Artificial Emotion
by xXxJazzy B. RealxXx
Summary: The Elrics discover a wandering young lady on their assignment to seek out an artificial weapon key to the Philosopher's stone. And yet this stranger may not be who they really think she is. 'Never Talk to Strangers'.
1. Don't Talk to Strangers

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own the OC and my villain. I'm just discovering this anime, so it may seem weird but just tell me what you think._

**Full Summary**:_ Edward and Alphonse Elric cross upon a homeless citizen on their mission to seek out and destroy the weapon built to wipe out all living life with one special power enriched by the Philosopher's stone. _

* * *

It had been a day ago since they found her, the almost mindless doll Edward called, "Isis." She liked her new name, and liked the idea of its meaning as well.

Ed sat atop the step to a burnt down apartment the people of this empty street of town set on fire yesterday. This town was like living in hell in itself due to all the negativity slithering above the heads of citizens crowded down the sidewalks.

He folded his arms above his knees and rested his chin on them. His bullion-gold eyes looked downwards, notioning.

…Clueless Isis…clueless of herself and anything else, for some reason never knew a thing about life or right and wrong.

She was a mystery, just as he had discovered her.

/_Flashback/ _

"_Urgh! Oh great…" Edward scratched the rear of his noggin and directed his eyes down in a sigh. "…We're lost…AGAIN!"_

_He and his younger fourteen year old brother, Alphonse Elric, had been searching about in the town of "Dolorosa" with no luck in finding a place to spend a night or three. He was assigned in this special yet aggressive town to uncover a governmental secret. Unless this secret was terminated, the threat would doom the state. But the only real thing that interested Edward was the involvement of the Philosopher's Stone._

_Ed walked in a straight posture with his arms behind his head. His eyes gleamed in the sunrays. "So where the hell is this place anyway?"_

_Al cocked his metal temple, and replied through his armor, "Don't you remember, brother? Dr. Libony's laboratory is located somewhere all the way on the other side of this town." _

_Ed stole his hands away from his head and turned to the giant armored Al directly, grunting. "Wha-Wha?! Are you serious? But that's gonna take us another day or two! Roy didn't even give us directions on how to GET there!" _

"_Then we better find a place to sleep before sun down, Brother." _

"_How can we? It costs more money to stay in even one room than what we have left. Besides, the people here are rude and would never be generous enough to spare people like us a simple room. I doubt they even KNOW the definition of generous if a dictionary was right in FRONT of them. How sad can you get?"_

"_But you're a State Alchemist." _

_Ed continued to saunter with his back hunched and his arms swaying from side to side as they hung. He began to groan. "State Alchemist or not…I don't think these people give a damn."_

_Al looked around the streets of the town. Each person they passed turned their eyes to them and glared with sneers. They knew they weren't from around here. _

_Al lowered his metal head and sighed stressfully. He turned those eyes to study a few muggers scampering across the alley with bent pipes to chase after a tormented stray pup. Though something else caught his attention. He gasped in reaction to his vision. "Brother, look!" _

_Ed's head peeked out in front of Al with a blank face and blinked twice. "What? What is that?"_

_In the dark corners of the alley was the most unusual thing to see. An unconscious girl spiraled out against the wall near a dumpster as if she was part of the metal scraps decorated around her. _

_Her curly white hair censored her nude assets, and the wavy bangs shadowed over the peacefully closed eyelids, but her pale flesh had been tarnished by dirt-blotches. _

_Ed blinked once this time as he stared at her. "…So uh...tell me why we're staring at a naked hobo again, Al?"_

* * *

_Edward tossed his red cloak around the girl to cover her half exposed body. He eased her back against the wall of another street Ed had hid him and Alphonse away. _

_The golden-haired teenager crossed his arms and stared at her unconscious face calmly for a few seconds. "When is she gonna wake up already? We can't stay here all day." He put his hands on his knees as he bent down in front of her, examining her in curiosity._

_Al shook his head, the metal screeching. "She's unconscious. So it's gonna take awhile." _

_Edward drew his fingers near her bangs. He hesitated; his face squinted, and slowly ran his full-flesh fingers lightly through her bangs to see the closed eyes. "It doesn't look like that'll be happening any time soon, Al." _

_ "Just be patient, brother."_

_Edward sat next to her against the wall as his right metal arm and left mortal arm crossed behind his head to get comfy. He closed his eyes and sighed in boredom._

_As soon as his eyes closed, the unconscious girl's head quickly slipped and fell into his breast. __Then violet-colored eyes slowly came open._

_Al stood up. "She's awake!"_

_Ed and Al stared at the girl in silence. She opened her eyes fully and stared back at only Ed. She cocked her head._

_Edward just gave a cheesy-grin at her. "Ahhh, hey...there, Ehe, how's it goin'?"_

_She blinked in confusion and slowly said her words as if this was her first time of speaking, "Who… are… you?" her voice was rather shaken and stirred._

_ "The name's Edward Elric and this is my brother, Al." Ed jabbed a thumb into the route of his brother._

_Al waved the gloved palm around. "Pleasure to meet you!"_

"_We found you unconscious near the garbage earlier." _

_She stayed with no expression, carefully saying her reply. "The…garbage?" _

_He tried not to laugh. "Yep. Can you remember what happened to ya' back there?" _

_She shook her head. _

_Edward perplexedly gazed at her. "Well…okay, can you at least tell us what's your name?" _

_She copied his perplexity. "My name?"_

_Ed raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you don't know your own name?" _

"…_What's a…name?" she inquired dully, a question mark descending over her head._

_Edward sighed and put his palm to his forehead with his eyes shut. "Damn, and I thought only blondes were dense." 'Wait. I'M blonde.' He looked back at her sheepishly. "…It seems like you've forgotten everything, huh?"_

_The girl looked around, bemused at her surroundings of a town. _

_Ed folded his legs Indian style and set both hands on his knees. "So you have no memory of anything about who you are or where you came from, AT ALL?" _

_She shook her head loosely, like she didn't know how to steady her neck right._

_Ed shut his eyes and crossed his arms like he was thinking, but internally annoyed. "That's just great…." _

* * *

_The nameless stranger walked along side Edward, a bit close to where her shoulder would brush up against his bare one. This urged Ed to look down on her as she looked up at him. He cracked open a friendly grin that showed her she was invited to join the friendship border. _

_Ed shifted his gaze on her more often, and thinking for a moment in silence. "…Isiserah… (Ice-seer-ra)" _

_She stared, baffled again._

_Ed widened his eyes and put on a quick grin. "That'll be your name from here on out. But for short, I'll call you, 'Isis.' Okay?"_

"…_Isis…?" _

"_Well, what do you think? Take it or leave it?"_

"_Isis" nodded and actually broke out a sweet smile for Ed. Her neck was steady this time._

_He chuckled at her as they walked with Al trotting behind them, observing. "What do you think, Al? Good name for her?" _

_He nodded excitedly. "I think it fits her perfectly." _

_/End of Flashback/ _

His focused eyes flattened in the memory. It had been a day ago since they found her, a day ago since they looked for Dr. Libony's Laboratory and hadn't uncovered it.

A rain drop drizzled from the atmosphere and stained onto the concrete, dampening it into a grey blotch. Another drop followed, three tumbling after the second leader, and soon over a million droplets showered over the town. They spilled hard over on Edward's shoulders in dense pitter-pats as he stayed in his position. He only raised his golden orbs, which looked like sinister amber in the shadows, to see a motionless figure before him. He blinked stilly as rain dripped off his dampened bangs.

The young lady stood in the rain patiently with an emotionless face, letting the tears of the clouds drench her snow-mane that extended six inches above her waist. Her eyes never left Ed. _"…You look cold."_ Her words were light and delicate like feathers between the hisses of the rain.

Ed blinked plainly, smiled, closed his eyes, and shook his head slightly to recite her name in a chuckle, "Ise'…"

…Night had fallen over the crude town that was still being showered down by cold rain that felt like falling ice.

Al and Ed went on another homeless night. They sat against the walls of the steep hill of the rainy empty street. But Ed was persistent in finding a place to sleep that wasn't the solid floor, just any place.

"Hey, Al, Isis," he peeked through the empty window and wiped the dust away. "come over here."

His brother's heavy metal feet clanked and dug into the pavement as he walked to him. "What is it, brother?"

Ed smiled widely to him and Isis. "Looks like we've found our new spot to spend the night."

* * *

Edward stretched out his upper limbs and took of his wet black jacket. He leaned himself against the burned desk near the wall in his tank top. His automail arm glistened.

Isis looked around and slowly sat on the creaky bed with her hands in her lap, looking to the floor, not saying a word.

"Are you sure we should do this? What if someone lives here?" Al sat on the bed next to her in the small singed black smoked room. He put his metal fingers on his knees and cocked his head. "Won't we get in trouble?"

Ed grinned cunningly. "Not if nobody finds us."

Al felt a heavy load weigh on his heart. "I don't like the sound of that…"

"Aw, don't worry! No one stays here I can bet on that! Who would live in a dump like this anyway?"

Al studied the room carefully and turned back to Ed. "It looks like this place has been abandoned forever. Either that or the people who live here don't take good care of it."

Ed put his folded his arms, stood straight, and darkened his face. "But I told you already, no one lives here, I'm sure of it."

Al was still uneasy inside. "I don't know, brother…"

"Don't be such a worry hog, Al. We'll be fine."

* * *

They had settled down after a quick investigation on the house. So far so good that no one was around to claim the owner of an abandoned wreck. Hey, wreck or no wreck, it was a place to stay to Ed's point of view. Better than sleeping in the rain like a stray dog.

"There!" Ed smiled as he fluffed up a pillow.

Isis sat on the bed in an old white gown that went above her knees one inch and thin straps hanging off her shoulders. The long strands of her hair curled like swirls on top of the dirty bed. The eyes of Isis followed Ed as he made the bed a little bit more comfy for her.

He turned to her with his usual face. "Will you be alright in here by yourself?"

Isis stared at him for a long moment, letting her pale-purple eyes contact his exotic wolf ones. She softened her own. "…You won't be here?"

Edward scratched his cheek with one white gloved finger. "Well, I'll be in the room next to you!" he caught a glimpse of her. She was smiling at him, but it was a smile he hadn't seen so often.

Ed turned his head away to avoid the eye contact. Once his eyes slowly returned to her, she was now standing right in front of him. "AH!" he freaked and jumped back in surprise.

She stepped closer to Ed. "So then I'll be close to you?" she smiled sweetly again.

Ed could feel the red hot blood rush to his face immediately. He pinned himself to the wall and chuckled nervously. "Uh…yeah! Sure…"

All this damn close contact.

The girl smiled again. She looked down with a soft expression and fiddled with the end of her gown. "That's good." She raised her eyes, looking at him in an extremely exhilarated and friendly way. "It makes me happy."

Ed's eyes went off to the side in the air somewhere, a little annoyed. He didn't like to be close to girls. It was just weird. "Yeah…same here.—So just get some sleep tonight okay? You need energy for tomorrow and maybe your memories will return then to." He passed her by with one last glance and half smile. "G'night, Ise." He shut the door.

Isis stood there, staring at her door.

* * *

Al sat against the wall for his resting spot. He lowered his head and shifted one knee up. "That girl is interesting, isn't she?"

Ed plopped down on the creaky bed and set his metal hand and human flesh hand behind his head. "Sure."

"Do you like her?"

"She's not a bad kid. Hopefully she gets her memory back soon, though." He closed his eyes and opened one eye on Al. "'Night, Al."

"Goodnight, brother." Al's voice tuned down as he drifted off into the series of dreams.

* * *

Isis did not sleep.

She lied down on her not so comfortable bed with her eyes on the burnt ceiling. She could hear everything…each and every drop of rain, the splash of foot steps waddling in the small floods of street water, the night calling, Ed snoring…

Isis's fingers folded on her belly as her eyes stayed focus and empty. A shock went through the line of her heart. Her pupils dilated.

A quick flash of a vision came into her memory screen. It flashed again, this time staying in her mind's sight. It was like it was playing on a broken TV. The screen of the image shuddered as if struggling to replay.

Isis's fingers tightened.

In the background of this image, gunshots flashed.

In the midst of the shadows, a man's face was shown. His lips were curved into an evil grin. Shiny glass lenses blocked his eyes, and his long black bangs fell over the glasses as well. He raised his pistol's point to the white haired girl's forehead, whose naked body was glowing white and soaking wet with red liquid.

Just like that, the motion picture suddenly clasped into a shrinking white dot and finally into the gray screen. Isis's eyes shined. A sharp feeling swept through her.

* * *

Ed snored loudly with his mouth open and saliva hanging off the side. He turned on his side and spoke in his sleep as he grunted. ".. .Who you calling a short little half wit midget you jerk...!" he snored again. "….You wanna piece of me…? …Damn, kid stole my money…"

"Edward?" a voice whispered in his ear. "Edward?"

"HUH!" He shot up and turned his head to be staring at Isis, who was hugging a pillow to her chest. He wiped his eye sleepily. "Oh it's you. What's up, Ise?"

She gave him a worried face.

He yawned, trying to wake up. "Having a hard time sleeping or what?"

She nodded in an ashamed gesture.

Ed scooted over for her. "If that's the case, then you can stay with me for a few minutes if it makes you feel any better."

Her face perked up. She sat down on the bed next to him as he crossed one foot over the other and put an arm behind his head again so he could be comfortable. Apparently the pillow was a soft as a rock. Ed closed his eyes.

Isis stared at him for a moment and then looked down. Her eyes meant sadness and worriment. Ed could sense the unhappiness in the air. He opened one eye to see her.

"Something bugging you?"

"…I…I…feel like something bad is going to happen…" Her eyes never met his. "And I feel it…it's something terrible…" she hugged her heart as her eyes lowered. "…It will destroy you…but I don't know what it is…"

Ed stayed with a stern face. He kept his gaze on her. "How do you know for sure?"

"I don't…but I can feel it. And something weird keeps appearing to me …" she finally ran her sights down to him. "Edward…it scares me…" Isis widened her eyes.

Ed had fallen fast asleep with a loud snoring echoing the room. He grumbled and licked his lips. He quickly turned on his side with his hands folded under the side of his head, snoring like a horn.

Isis shook him. "Edward? Edward!"

Ed blinked himself awake. "Huh? What? What? What I miss?" he saw Isis and quickly remembered. He slapped his face. "Ah, sorry about that. I'm just sleepier than most nights. So what were you saying?"

"…A danger I've been sensing…"

"Right! Start where I dozed off."

"Well, I was saying how, something strange keeps appearing to me, over and over again, and…I'm scared."

He came back to the memories and raised his eyebrows with a smirk. He looked away. "Don't worry. Don't let it get to you." He plopped down again. "If anything bad happens, we'll get through it."

Isis blinked at him, looked down and lowered her eyes in doubt.

"I promise." Ed made his solemn oath sincere and worthy.

She turned to him to see those gold eyes looking fixedly on her.

Ed seemed like he meant it. "Al and I have been through hell and back, but eventually we conquer it, and we'll do it again." A small smile broke out. "The only difference is, we've got you on our side and three heads can be better than two. We can get through it, Ise, you just have to trust me."

Each word was convincing to Isis's mind. "I do trust you…" She finally smoothened out her concern and let it turn into warm happiness.

Isis laid herself next to him and faced him directly. The side of her face buried into her white bangs. "…Thank you…"

They shared a locked gaze for the moment. Isis smiling, Edward focused. The light in his sunshine eyes began to orbit in emotions as thought about her warning.

Ed turned his head away and pointed his nose to the ceiling. "Sure thing, Ise."

His feelings went wary as his orbs met the rain falling outside. That reminded him of things. Things he'd rather left forgotten.

The rain was strong and darkened the air gray like that night he and Al _had to try because they loved her so much_. That same night that nearly cost them their lives, but took away an arm and a leg, and a body.

He strained himself not to think about the accident. He had moved forward, but even now, deep within his heart, he still feels the pain of this inedible sin.

Isis began to speculate the thoughts running through Edward's head. Something was brought up in the surface of his eyes. They showed grief and constant agony.

Isis scooted herself close to him, almost afraid to touch him. "Edward? Edward what's wrong?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to her blankly. "Hm?"

The violet eyes became the gentle void. "…You look like it hurts somewhere." She gazed deeply into the depths of his treasury irises. "Your heart aches…because you lost someone that was close to you?"

Edward went wide-eyed as he sat up half way on his elbows. "How do you know I—"

Isis's fingers ran through one side of his bangs, stroking them out of his face to see those wolf irises clearly. "So much sadness in your eyes…you strain your smiles sometimes…so much pain there. Edward…why are you so sad?"

Ed blinked once, and gritted his teeth, snatching his head away while angrily shutting his eyes. "Just forget it." His bangs hid his eyes away. "…It's not worth repeating. You don't need to know the story. What matters is that it's behind me now, and I've moved on."

"But you still think of it sometimes…"

Ed stiffened.

The next thing he felt was the embrace of eagerly hesitant arms wrap across his stomach. Isis's eyelashes covered over her closed eyes, with sparklets of rain still clung to them. Her rime white bangs went over her forehead and touched her lashes as she pulled herself into Edward's side more. She held him tight and nestled into his body.

"Don't be sad…" she pleaded.

Ed's facial expression turned into embarrassment as he stared down at the girl who was nuzzled deep into him, clung to him tight. He just didn't like having a girl this close.

He changed his mood back to a smile and landed a hand on her head and stroked the top of it. "Ise?"

She looked up with big eyes.

There was something he wanted to say, but he replaced it; "It's getting late." He smiled faintly. "So maybe we should just hit the sack and call it a day, alright? Go back to your room and take a rest." Ed pried her off him, not smiling anymore.

Isis seemed almost sad to let him go. "I can't stay?"

"Stay where?"

"Here."

Ed folded his legs and held his hand under his chin. "I don't have anywhere for you to sleep. Unless…." His eyes slowly darted to her and then away with narrowing eyes above his red cheeks.

Isis looked at him inquisitively and then to the spot next to him on the bed. She quickly ran her attention back to him. "Can I?"

Ed moved back with a sweat drop. "Now, w-wait a minute, I don't think—"

"Oh please let me, Edward?" she gave him these huge bush baby eyes that sparked so innocently he couldn't resist.

He crossed his arms and looked down in upset closed eyes. "I hate it when that happens.—You can stay for the night."

Isis gasped and threw her arms around Ed. "OH THANK YOU, EDWARD!" she charged into him so hard she knocked them both out of the bed.

"HEY!" Edward flew on his back against the hard wood with Isis on top of him. He rose, winced and cursed himself in pain.

Isis looked down on him. "Are you okay, Edward?"

His eyes met hers exactly. He turned wide-eyed and immediately crawled backwards away from her until he was at a comfortable distance. "Don't ever do that!"

She cocked her head. "Do what?"

"Jump me like that!"

"…It's not good to do that to people?" she asked in a perplexed tone.

Ed blinked blankly, his frown taking over his forehead as she crawled near him. "Look, it depends on if they want you to or not!"

Isis blinked and closed in on their personal boundary, making Ed move back against the wall. "Then…who can I hug like that?"

Ed, feeling like a retard, twiddled his fingers and stared down with his long bangs shadowing over his eyes.

* * *

A cloaked figure shadowed over the window of the abandoned house. It stared into the glass, seeing three individuals; one girl, one metal armed boy, and one large armor leaned against the wall feet away.

The lurking person smirked and charged his gun.

* * *

_A/N:_

_ Sorry if it's a little off, it's my first timer so it's a piece of crap. But I promise it gets better cuz I had a lot planned!_


	2. Persecution

Eyes had closed and drifted, dreams had opened and danced on light toes.

She got her wish, to stay with Edward and Alphonse for the night. Ed was knocked out, still going about his snoring. His arms spread out over the bed in different angles with Isis on her side facing him as he slept.

She was wide awake and staring into Edward's face. He looked so happy with his eyes closed, even with the snoring. After a short second Ed turned on his side, facing Isis, and threw his flesh arm around her. He grumbled again and pulled his arm back into him, but pulled her into him as well by her back. He pulled her nearer into a tight embrace. His snoring stopped.

Isis blinked widely as she stared buried into his chest. She looked up to see the sleeping boy. His body was warm, but her body was cold, and it didn't make sense. Isis had barely closed her eyes when she keenly heard the sound of bullets falling on the floor.

Her eyes enlarged, hearing things only she could hear in the mixture of noises. Isis looked at Ed's face and carefully pried him off her without waking him up. She got off the creaky bed, lifting back the weight, and ran to the front door, leaving Ed to stir.

Isis slowly peeked out the side of the front door. She was afraid, but curious.

She stared off into the night in the doorway. She squint her eyes and looked deeply into the gray air and white streams of falling rain. "…Something is out there…"

She stepped out into the cold rain and walked five feet in front of the house. She linked her hands to her heart, trying to see. All she could do was hear, and this time all she heard were footsteps.

Isis turned her eyes to the intruder.

* * *

Two loud gunshots went off, echoing in the abandoned house.

Ed sat up abruptly with sweat clung to his forehead. "What the hell was that?!"

Al turned himself on and gasped in the shock of hearing the angry yells and gunshots.

Edward looked at the creased spot next to him in the bed. "Where's Isiserah?!"

Al rised up quickly. "…You don't think…" he trailed off.

Ed's eyes grew disturbingly wider. He jumped out of his bed and headed for the doorway, tripping, stumbling and desperately calling her name. " ISIS!"

"Brother, wait!" Al ran after him.

He did not wait, he ran to the front door until he saw it wide open. One more gunshot went off, lighting the air.

Sweat trickled down the sides of his face while he panted in fear. "ISISERAH!"

"Brother!" Al went after him again.

Ed ran into the rain in his soaking wet tank top. He panted and shivered, turned left from right, the rain fleeing from his bangs. "ISISERAH! WHERE ARE YOU?!" his voice trembled in the cold.

_"…Edward…"_ her voice was light in the lost rain.

Ed turned in that direction, but couldn't see her. "ISISERAH? ANSWER ME!" he waddled in the floods of the pavement.

Al followed him outside and searched the rain for Isis. He found her feet away. "There she is!"

Ed looked closer and saw her sitting on the base of her knees with her face frozen and emotionless. "ISISERAH!" he naturally screamed.

A man held his pistol to the air, standing in front of Isis. "You are a down failure, so you're not as grand as you were the first time we met." He smirked at her. "No more games. Let's just finish what we started, shall we?" he pressed the pistol's point against the skin of her forehead.

Ed's teeth gritted as he cringed. He recalled Isis saying:

_"Don't be sad…" _

Ed's face darkened and wrinkled up in his eyebrows. He made a few pained breath winces, his eyes growing enormous and caught in the massive cold.

The finger on the hold of the pistol's trigger began to pull back slowly, Isis doing nothing but staring at the foe calmly.

Ed shut and squeezed his eyes tight with angry tears set in the corners. He hollered loudly in an excruciating rage and lost his self-control. He charged forward and clapped his hands once, creating blue sparks of electricity in the palm of his metal hand. A silver blade extended from his metal arm. He ran for the enemy, his vision of the foe like a shaky camera. Edward struck the pistol out of his hand, making his enemy fall back.

He stood in front of Isis, panting heavily as rain blurred his sight. "You bastard….What the hell DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Al trotted over to him but stopped feet away. "ED!"

Edward glanced at him. "Back off, Al. You stay out of this." His tone warned he was not saying it meaninglessly.

"…But, brother…"

" AL! Do what I say and butt out of this one!" Edward snapped angrily at him for a first, rushing his younger brother's decision.

The armored soul lowered his head with his eyes facing downward.

Isis snapped out of her frozen state. "…Edward…?"

The gunslinger raised his glasses and glared at the runt protecting his prey. "Get the hell out of my way, kid! This doesn't concern you."

Ed defended himself and gritted his teeth with a few menacing growls. He held one arm out in front of Isis. "This kid concerns me, so that means I'm not going anywhere, pal."

The enemy held his gun tightly and smiled at Ed, before randomly introducing himself. "Then you should recognize me, _State Alchemist_." He pointed to the silver pocket watch Ed carried. "Because the name's Sage."

Ed just growled. "Doesn't ring a god damn bell."

"Sorry to hear." Sage held his pistol directed to him. "Just step aside, unless you want to risk your life for this _thing_. It belongs to me, so HAND IT OVER OR SAY YOUR GOODBYES!"

Edward's eyes narrowed in hatred and disgust. He held up his blade. "I told you, dammit! I'm not going anywhere!" he charged head-on in fury. "YOU'LL HAVE TO GET PASS ME FIRST!" Ed quickly stopped in his mid-pace as he strained his eyes. "What the…"

Six other men, dressed in uniform, stood beside the gunslinger with rifles. Two walked past Ed as he studied them in confusion. He didn't recognize any of their uniforms.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" he watched them walk over to Isis.

They seized her arms as she gasped, yanking her to her feet.

Al stepped forward. "Let go of her!" his cry more in high-pitched helplessness than striking.

The fury inside Edward's heart flickered radiantly. He bared his teeth and clenched his fists. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! LET GO OF HER RIGHT NOW!" He was about to beat the crap out of them, until two men grabbed him by his arms and held him back. "GET OFF ME!" Ed pulled away madly and ran forward to help Isis. "ISISER—"

A man raked a pistol across the back of Ed's head so harshly, the back of his head bled a little.

Ed clasped to the floor, wincing as he watched them take Isis away in chains, her not at all protesting. "…Ise…you…can't have her…"

Black boots stood before him.

Edward winced again in pain as he tried to stay conscious. "What do you want with her…? Tell me…!"

"She's nothing more than an uncontrollable weapon, and it is my duty to destroy her for good. This girl has been state property, understand? This weapon of mass destruction belongs to the government." _  
_

Ed's eyes widened while he lifted himself up weakly. "…What do you mean…weapon…?"

"Do you have any idea where she came from when you first found her? Who she is? How she ended up this way?"

Ed slunk back and stared into the distance. "…That can't be…Dr. Libony…created a weapon…not a super human…" he shut his eyes tightly with rain running down. "You're wrong! She's not some project designed to kill…that's not true! Isis would never…" he glowered at the gunslinger above him with hateful eyes. "YOU BASTARD! SHE'S A REGULAR PERSON! "

"She's more than that, you naïve child…" the gunslinger gave Ed a stiff kick in his side that threw him two feet. _  
_

Isis watched as the men threw her in the back of a truck. They chained her hands to the wall and a secured device fastened around her neck that inhabited a shock wave system if she refused their commands. From the open doors of the back truck, Isis's wet eyes gazed into Ed's. _"…Ed…ward..."_

Ed strained his teeth again and reached out his hand. "Ise…"

A rifle's point directed to Ed's face. The empty black hole stared at him in warning. "Try anything, _alchemist_, and we'll force you to watch her death."

Ed snarled in annoyance. That's all he could do. He could relieve himself of harm easily, but if he did something reckless or anything at all like that, it would cost Isiserah's life. "…You can't do this to her…no…you sick bastard, you'll never get away with this…" he stood up fully. "YOU GIVE HER B—"

"SILENCE!" The guard jabbed this time the point of the rifle into Ed's stomach roughly, hitting his gut.

Ed's eyes dilated wide as he struggled to breathe. He fell to the ground, holding his stomach while blood tickled down his lips.

The gunslinger closed the truck's door where Isis was kept. Her face saw Ed for one last time. "Leave him be, we have no time to waste with a runt."

He signaled the men that it was time to go. They left Ed's beaten body and retreated to the truck. They started the car, backed up, emptied its car exhaustion in Ed's face and rode down the street, leaving the boy to stay there in agony and hacks and coughs.

His larger brother ran to his side and tried to help him up. "Ed! ED!"

Edward held his stomach and arched his back as he raised himself up. "Dammit….I won't let them take her away to use for their own sick purposes…" Ed clapped his hands once, and pressed them against the dirt of the earth.

A blue explosion path of shock waves roamed the concrete from beneath his fingers. It trailed toward the wheels of the truck and raised the concrete like a stone tidal wave. The truck was thrown into the sky and fell against the pavement on its side, skidding across it with orange sparks flying. The back doors to the truck flew wide open, revealing Isis who was wrapped in chains, lying there out cold again.

Ed forced himself up and ran toward the damaged street. He clasped on his knees next to her. He took her in his arms and stared into her lifeless face. "Ise? Ise…come on, Ise, wake up…" he pulled her into his chest with his bangs hiding his eyes. "…Open your eyes, kid. I know you're still there…"

Isis stirred lightly in his arms and opened her eyes. She smiled a weak happiness to see his face. "Ed…"

Edward smiled back and broke the metal collar around her neck with his metal fingers. His lowered eyes looked at the broken chains clamped to her wrists and legs. Ed growled and slashed the metal against the chains, breaking them.

Isis freed her hands. She formed a watery smile. She looked from her wrists and then to Ed. "Thank you, Edward."

He gritted his teeth roughly and gripped his fists with dirt in between his nails. "…They're wrong…you can't be…there's just no way…you can't be that menace Dr. Libony created…it's not possible."

Isis's smile faded. She paused. "…Dr. Libony…?"

Ed wiped the blood from his lips. "That crazed alchemist who created the artificial intelligence he named, 'Iyami.'"

Isis's eyes went blank. She gasped in a shocked, confused state. "…Iyami…"

Edward's now sinister amber eyes stared into the innocence of Isis's face. "…They claim that…that _thing_ to be you…but I don't believe it…" his voice came with a rasping snarl. The light in his eyes shuddered continuously as he bared his teeth in anger.

Isis tilted her head against his in confusion. "…Edward...are you…hurting again?"

"Ise…they won't come after you anymore, because I'll make sure of it." He began to smile weakly.

Isis understood only slightly, but she knew he was hurting somewhere, emotionally, mentally.

"…Edward…don't worry." She smiled. "If I stay _here_…it won't hurt anymore."

Ed opened his eyes slightly and smiled weakly, rain blinding him. He closed them again. "That's right, Ise…"

She closed her eyes and let rain droplets fall from her lashes.

Al saw them from the distance away. His armor was showered down and glistening completely. He saw the two next to the dented truck. But something else focused his highest and deepest interest, and mostly his concern. He saw it near the truck stuck in the rain, holding something long and silver in its fingers. "…Oh no…" Al breathed in the falling floods.

* * *

_The story will get better and sadder, and I'll do something to my own character I've never really thought of doing so often. You guys just gotta stick around if you ever wanna reach the interesting parts. _

_I hope you enjoyed! (evil grin) Don't worry, destruction is at sake here_


	3. Quest

"Where do we head now?" Al stood out the doorway and joined his shorter brother at the steps.

Edward stared down their pathway. "To Dr. Libony's laboratory." He hung his brown suitcase over his shoulder. "Let's get going, Al."

Ever since last night, Alphonse had been skeptical about Isis. He was torn between Sage and Ed's theories of the girl.

Edward was about to take off until he realized Isiserah was not with them. He blinked widely and looked from right to left. "Hey, where's Isis? ISE! WHERE'D CHA' GO!" Ed's eyes grew. He sweat dropped and panicked. "AH! WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Did we lose her?" Al searched the inside of the abandoned wreck.

"No, Al," he began to speak in a squeaky/calm voice. "We just LET her loose to run off in the most dangerous place there is and were completely aware of it—OF COURSE WE LOST HER YOU DOPE!" he waved his arms around uncontrollably. "Hurry we have to find her or who knows what can happen next!"

Al chuckled under his armor. "Calm down, brother."

They ran back outside and searched.

"Damn, where'd she run off to?" Edward walked down the sidewalks and called for her. "ISISERAH! ISIS! C'MON WE'RE NOT PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK HERE! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! ISE!"

He stopped shouting when he saw the girl standing near an empty flower stand set up in the outside marketplace.

Ed sighed and wiped his forehead in relief. "Phew…" He really thought something happened to her. "Hey, Al! Found her!"

Isis was admiring the rare blue rose bouquet. Her eyes twinkled in amazement and her cheeks lifted for a smile.

" ISIS!"

She jumped lightly at hearing his voice. She peered at him from the corner of her eye. She smiled. "Edward!"

He caught up to her and stood by her side as she turned back to the roses.

Isis leaned over the live floras. "Beautiful, aren't they?" Her eyes were glinted in the sunlight.

Ed stared at her softly, like that of a parent. His own golden eyes and hair gleamed in the rays of light, revealing a touch of his soul.

When the long silence didn't pass, Isis's gaze drifted off to him. She saw the smile he was giving. The undying smile of gentleness. "What's wrong?"

Edward's smile turned into a nervous grin and a sweat drop above his head. His bug eyes turned to the roses also. "Nothing!" His eyebrow twitched above his eyelid. _'Great, what did I do that for?' _

Isis leaned forward to look under his face. "Edward?"

He jumped back only a bit. "Yeah?"

"Don't you think they're beautiful too?"

Edward glanced at her. "Sure I do." His chin touched his neck as he lowered it in thought.

She looked fixedly at the form of their fragile peddles and different colors. She had never seen such beautiful masterpieces before.

Edward saw the look in her eyes. "You really love them, don't you?"

She nodded happily.

Edward looked back down at the roses and bent over them. "You know, all different colored roses symbolize something, usually having to do with people's emotions."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He pointed a white gloved finger to a pink rose. "These usually mean happiness, the yellows mean sunny or mellow…I think, the blues mean farewell, and the red roses mean love."

Isis stared at the blood red peddles of the rose for what seemed forever. Her eyes gentled. "…Love…?" She turned to him. "What's that?"

Little scratches of red marked across Ed's face. "Well…shit…"

Al chuckled from behind.

Ed glanced/glared at him with his face turning redder. "Shut up, Al!—Anyway, it's…it's a, uh, you know, feeling inside, an emotion, the thing you have towards someone that you really care about."

"Really? What does it feel like?"

Ed suddenly became gentle as he thought of his mother. "Well, every time you see them, your stomach ties in a knot, and you feel…strong inside, because they're always there to believe in you…" His feelings went away as he grinned and scratched his head. "But I'm just guessing!"

Isis smiled and moved away from him. She pointed to a white rose, as white as her hair. "Then what does this one mean, Ed?"

Ed pulled himself together. "…Sacred love."

She picked it up and raised it to her nose. Her eyelashes fluttered. "I like this one the most."

The shop owner showed up. He saw Isis put down the rose and glanced at Ed. He grinned and held up a large fully bloomed red rose to him. "Red rose for your love there?"

He jumped back. "What? No way. We're just friends, pal."

"Oh, forgive me."

Ed glanced at Isis. "No, hang on." He took the single red rose and smiled. "Here, Ise."

She looked happy. "Thank you!"

He said a, "No prob," and paid the shop owner.

* * *

They all stopped at a small shop selling rice balls, muffins, bread, and etc.

Isis ran to the glass counter and observed the breaded food. Her eyes grew. "Wow; that looks good…"

Ed pressed his face against the glass counter in hunger. "Holy crap! Hey, Al, let's get these too!"

Al picked out two of those muffins and five rice balls, paid and grabbed them in a bag.

"There's a train station on the other side of this landmass." The eyes of Isis flashe brightly. "The train stop is only a few miles away."

Ed and Al blinked three times. She never said words like, 'landmass.'

Edward stroked his chin. "So we have to climb over this entire mountain side just to get to the lab? We'll never make it…"

"No." Isis's eye sight sharpened. "The optional train station is one mile away." She pointed to their left.

She was right; a train station was beginning to board just a mile from the lower leveled ground they stood on.

"Alright! C'mon guys! Let's get there before it leaves without us!" Edward took Isis by the hand and rushed towards it, having Al carry the bag of rice balls uneasily.

That's when Ed felt a jerk slip from out of his hand. He paused in his motion and turned around to see Isis standing still in the distance, her face solemn.

Ed arched his eyebrows. "Ise, what's wrong? You okay?"

No response.

"…Ise…?" he took a step closer.

Al rounded his head to Ed. "Brother, what's going on?"

Ed cocked an eyebrow uneasily. "I'm not sure…" he began to speak to Isis calmly. "Ise, come on; tell me what's up."

She dropped her head, dark violet eyes on him. "You can't go there."

"Go where?"

"To Dr. Libony's Laboratory. You can't. You shouldn't."

"…We don't have a choice. I have to do this in order to get rid of that machine and find the Philosopher's stone." He turned his back and glanced at her. "So let's go before the train leaves us for good, okay?" he suddenly grinned and began to walk off.

She clutched her white gown and breathed furiously, managing a frown. "IF YOU GO YOU'LL BE KILLED!"

Ed stopped in his tracks.

Al flinched. "What do you mean, 'be killed?'"

Isis didn't answer him. She waited for Ed to agree not to go.

Edward turned around to directly face her. His gold eyes were solemn and calm. He stayed quiet and serious.

Isis lowered her head once more. "Something, something dark, will destroy you without regret or tolerance." Her eyes flashed a light. "But it'll crush more than your own bones…" Her personality suddenly changed from a lifeless mouth piece to her regular innocent self. "…And…Edward, I don't want anything bad to happen to you two..."

Ed bared his teeth slightly and frowned, recognizing her different changes. He dismissed it and shook his head. "Like it or not, Ise. We have to go, do or die."

She cringed and stared down, her heart splitting in two. Isis quickly felt a warm and cotton gloved hand land on her shoulder. Her eyes slowly met Edward's golden ones.

He smirked at her. "Don't you worry about it. Nothing's gonna happen to me, or you or Al. I promised, remember?"

* * *

They boarded on the train, all three and set course for the mountain side. Ed and Al sat across from each other, and Isis sat with Ed. He leaned his elbow on the window and stared out into the moving obstacles. He took a large chunk of muffin in his mouth.

Isis looked out too. Her eyes turned sinister and completely blank. Her look sharpened emotionlessly. _'Edward.'_ A computer voice echoed in her mind. The eyes went normal as she rested her head against his red cloak's shoulder and clutched it between her fingers.

Edward felt her grip and patted her head. "Don't worry, kiddo. Everything will be fine once we get there."

Al wasn't so sure. He was getting uncomfortable with Isis around.


	4. What's a Kiss?

It was taking more than forever to get to where they were going. Night had already fallen. The train was already empy, and the only souls left were Ed, Al and sleeping Isis, who slept against Ed's shoulder in peace.

Ed stared at her with a smirk. Al stared at them both.

"Brother?" Al broke the silence.

Ed straightened up. "Yeah?"

"…Do you believe she's the weapon we've been searching for all this time? The artificial weapon that is connected to the Philosopher's stone?"

Edward wrinkled his nose in anger and turned his eyes to the window, feeling cross in his heart. "Don't start that crap again, Al. That guy was lying just to cover his ass."

Al put his metal hands between his legs and dropped his head with a sigh. "…I don't know about that. I mean, she's not normal. She doesn't act like a regular human being, she doesn't know what simple things are, she doesn't know what simple feelings are, she's just…there's just something not right about her…Just look at her, brother."

Ed was looking at her in a focus expression. He just stared, not blinking, eyes lowered, so serious and sad all in one uneasy mixture. "…I am looking at her, Al. And she's just a kid, like me or you."

"We don't even know where she came from, Ed! That's enough to be suspicious about…"

Ed scolded and looked away, not saying anything else.

A deep pause filled the train seats.

"…You're falling in love with her, brother…" Al lowly broke fragments of the silence.

Ed flinched in surprise and heart loss of what his ears heard correctly. The lights in his eyes trembled.

He said nothing to his brother and drew his attention to his lap.

Isis was still asleep through the discussion of her. She fidgeted a little and snuggled up against Ed's arm even deeper.

* * *

Edward, Al and Isis stood on the stone of the empty train stop. They stared at their surroundings of pitch black; mountains, plateaus, and bits of green forests.

The train rode away on the invisible tracks of the night.

"We're gonna have to leave in the morning." Ed pulled his brown suitcase over his shoulder. "For now, we'll have to find some place to crash for the night."

They walked into the greenness of the plants and trees, seeking out good places to set up anywhere for the night.

Edward and Al found their spot for a slumber. It was just a resting place in the lap of a tall tree trunk's roots. Ed leaned his back against the tree trunk and put a twig in mouth. He closed his eyes, edged his back against the trunk to be cozy, and went quiet as so did Al and Isis.

How much more comfortable can you get?

Isis just sat up and looked at Ed and to Al. She raised a single eyebrow and crawled near Ed.

"Hm?" Edward opened one eye and saw Isis leaning her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. He lifted a grin and exhaled once with his chest deflating, eyes slowly closed shut as he smiled.

Al stared down at them.

Ed spoke with his eyes shut. "I don't, Al."

"…You're so closed-minded…" Al breathed with a sigh. "Just can't admit it, can you?"

His big brother had already dozed off into the dreamy dimension.

* * *

Isis had slept lightly. She had left the brothers and roamed up the highest point of a non-edgy but grassy part of the mountain that seemed to look like a hill. This whole mountain top was flat and looked like a large island. Something disturbed her.

She sat down in the itchy green blades that whispered melodic harmony with the night winds. She pulled her legs to her chest and gazed at the bright twilight stars of infinity. The bright orbs of pure light gleamed off and on like a blinking lighthouse, all one hundred-thousand billion of 'em. Their reflections of radiance reflected on the violet of Isis's eyes.

"Restless again, Ise?"

She turned her head to see Ed standing two feet away with his hands in his pockets. He stood beside her, keeping his eyes on her.

Isis turned back to the stars. "I just wanted to see the bright spheres of light."

Ed chuckled. "You mean the stars." His gaze met the night sky, wind whipping his braid and bangs around gently. "They're pretty big up close like this. It's amazing. The stars sometimes guide you through the toughest times. And they're awesome to look at…"

Isis nodded. "Beautiful like the roses we saw today."

Ed stood still, looking off into the distance while the wind came his way, sweeping back his hair and clothes so elegantly. Against the moonlight stars, the light focused on his orbs was glistening deeply in a dazzling array of radiant light blue diamonds. The streams of light brightened his gold eyes into jewels.

Isis softened her own as he made a smirk on his face, calm, serious, collected. She lingered on his lips.

Ed finally felt the eyes on him, and slowly met them. He said not a word as he noticed the look in her face. Light and dark blue continental shapes astounded the pitch black sky and white streams with traveling stars brightened it.

Isis broke the silence. "Do the stars symbolize love too?"

"…Well, they can." Ed sat down next to her in the moonlit grass, legs spread out and apart.

They stared out onto a meadow, the grass traveling with the winds shifting moonlight against them, the small coupled songbirds swooping down with a glimpse of moon shine on their backs.

Isis smiled as the two songbirds flew passed her. Ed looked to her, she looked to him, both smiling. They turned back to the sea of starlight. After a few seconds they looked back to each other, gazing longer this time.

Wind unarranged Ed's blonde strands, letting them fly against his unblinking eyes. Her loose strands of white hair were bothered by the wind also, but were shining like a slight blink of light.

"…Edward…?"

"…What's up…?"

Isis's eyes quickly ran to the grass. "…When two people press lips against one another's…what are they doing exactly?"

Ed blinked. "Kissing."

"But why?"

"It's another sappy love gesture and all that."

Isis returned her sight to shooting stars. "…So if you love someone, you kiss them?"

"That's right."

Isis stayed silent. '_If you love someone, you kiss them…you kiss them, if you love them…' _

Ed gazed at her.

Isis tried talking again, but her tongue forgot the English language. She could do nothing but feel her lips softly.


	5. Machine Land

_Before we get into the chapter, I just gotta thank everyone who's reviewed so far! _

_FreeAnge__l: You're one of my good friends and I thank you for staying with me in each recent fic I write! Thanks, gurl for sticking with me! _

_Jessica__: Thanks reviewing my story and bothering to read it! _

_KrystelKistune__: Thank you so very much for liking my fic! I hope you can stick around to read what happens next! _

_SAGA123__: LOL, thanks for lovin' it so far! And yeah that comment made lots of sense (on ch. 1 review)! These fics are supposed to be seen better if you have an imagination and it made loads of sense! Keep reading! You lifted my spirits! _

_Kohaku99__: Well, Isis might as well be, I mean I didn't have a choice. Teehee, it does seem a bit like that anime doesn't it? It is definitely mirroring it. I don't know a whole lot about that anime but I've read one manga of it (vol. 4) and I already liked it! _

_Dark-vs-lit__e: That's a coo' name! This fic is a bit creepy, eh? LOL, that's okay, it's gonna be a bit sadder and brutal when the REAL action starts, so it just may get creeper! I hope you enjoyed! _

_Hayden__: Thanks my good friend! I'm so glad u finally read! I hope to read u soon again! _

* * *

Ed groaned gloomily and wiped away the sleepiness in his eyes. He sat up and scratched his lower back. "Urgh…what happened last night?"

"Good morning, brother." A cheerful voice greeted him.

Ed stared at the person and grinned. "Uh, mornin' Al. Hey, you see Ise anywhere?" he looked around, not seeing the girl.

They must've fallen asleep on the hill last night.

Al dropped his head to not come in contact with his brother's eyes. "…She's here." He almost sounded sad. "She's by the small waterfall a little bit deeper into the forest."

"Crap. Then I'll be back with her in a few minutes, so don't go wandering off without me!" Ed jumped up and ran into the deep forest of the mountainside.

Al watched him go and lowered his head again with a sigh.

* * *

Isis heard it here. She pushed the shrubby out of her face and stared at the thing she had been hearing moan all morning. She looked at all the red blood stained in its white fur. The blood trailed the ground, so much of it lost and exposed.

The beautiful large thing met eyes with Isis. It bared its teeth and growled, salvia drooling from its mouth. It folded its ears back and tried to stand, but was yanked down by its bleeding leg. Whimpers and yelps escaped the poor animal as it licked its wound. It was too deep to be tended by simply licking.

Isis approached, the wounded creature rising and threatening her more viciously.

* * *

Ed removed the branches and tall grass from out of his way. He scanned the waterfall, no Isis. He arched his eyebrow. "Huh…that's weird. Al said she'd be here."

He walked out into the open of the lake and cupped his hands next to his mouth and called. "ISE! ISIS!"

"Ed?"

He heard his name behind him and turned around to see Isiserah above him. She was sitting on a large purple flowered branch. Purple flowers and water droplets sat in the white strands of her hair as she grinned down on him.

Ed's face turned stern. "What are you doing up there! You should get down before you hurt yourself!"

As he reached near her, an unusually large white wolf jumped in front of his path and growled. It lowered its broad head, the fur rising on its body making it look like an enormous warrior.

Ed immediately held his ground, coupled with a sweat drop and clenched teeth. But then his eyes met the bandage around its fore leg. "...Huh?"

Isis stood up on the branch. "Wind Seeker, down!"

Ed arched his eyebrows and loosened himself up. "Wind-what?"

The white wolf heard its name. He did as told and dropped to his belly, whimpering as he glanced at Isis above him and laid his head between his paws.

Isis smiled at him. "Good boy."

Ed stared at the animal blankly. His raised eyebrows that showed he was completely lost. "…Uh…could someone fill me in here?"

Isis grinned down on Ed, almost forgetting he was there. She jumped off the branch. The white wolf got up and crawled on his belly, bending his ears and whimping soft notes to her.

The girl wrapped her arms around his neck, nestling into his turf of snow white fur. "Good boy, Wind Seeker."

Wind Seeker's tail swished in affection.

Edward stared at them bug-eyed and deeply confused. A sweat drop followed. "…Okay...wild man-eating wolf and human hugging in harmony? Yeah, okay; that makes a lot of sense…" he smiled sarcastically.

The white wolf stared at Ed, never taking his muster yellow eyes off him.

* * *

After a few minutes, Ed was sitting erect from Isis and Wind Seeker, who laid his head in Isis's lap.

Ed sat Indian style and put his hands on his knees, cocking his eyebrow on Isis. "Why'd you run off like that? You can't keep turning loose."

Wind Seeker opened his eyes slightly to Ed, growling under his breath. The white wolf began to sniff out Ed's body to get a full profile; roughly poking his nose all around.

"HEY! HEY! HEY! Watch where you poke that nose of yours, buddy!"

Wind Seeker withdrew and rumbled in annoyance.

Edward narrowed his eyes and looked at Isis. "So what's up with this Wind Seeker crap?"

"I heard his cries of pain and I responded in gaining his trust and helping him recover. He was wounded by a metal object, jabbed in the leg to where he might have bled to death."

Wind Seeker licked the bandage around his fore leg.

Ed smiled to himself. "There's your proof, Al…" he thought aloud. _'Artificial weapons never leave the weak to survive. They'd put it out of its misery…' _

Isis looked at the wolf. "Wind Seeker is the alpha male of the pack of the Mountainside."

Ed glanced at the white creature. The wolf glared at him from the corner of his eye. An electricity of disliking swept through them both.

Ed growled and looked away. "You know we better be heading back soon; I told Al I'd be back by now."

Wind Seeker eyed Ed's silver pocket watch. It glistened brightly, catching all his attention. He cocked his head from side to side.

The next thing Ed felt was a tug from his pants. He looked down and saw the silver locket missing. "What the—HEY!"

Wind Seeker stood feet away with the silver State Alchemist pocket watch daggling from his mouth. He growled as Ed got up.

Edward clenched his fists and growled back with a vein popping out of his head. "GIVE ME BACK MY WATCH YOU STUPID MUTT!"

The chain of the pocket watch hooked on Wind Seeker's tooth as he barked a snippy, "No." He looked away and took off along the lake's side.

Ed's nostrils steamed. "HEY! GET BACK HERE! GIMME BACK MY WATCH! DOES IT SMELL LIKE ROAD KILL TO YOU, MUTT?!"

Wind Seeker ran on the top of a miniature cliff over the lake, knowing the shrimp wouldn't dare follow him there. He sniffed Ed's air and stared down at him with an expression saying, "No, but you do."

Ed's mouth curved into a containing angry grin, his eye twitching continuously and his eyes narrow. "Here Hell Runner or whatever the hell your damn name is."

Wind Seeker's lip twitched as he snarled, fur bristled.

"Be a good boy and give me back my watch, okay?" Ed's voice was itching with annoyance.

Wind Seeker glanced at Edward and then off to the side. He yawned widely, curling his tongue with the chain hooked on his tooth.

Three veins popped from out of Ed's forehead. His ears and nostrils steamed like a train. He stomped his feet and threw a childish tantrum. "WILL YOU GIVE ME BACK THAT DAMN WATCH YOU HOWLING PIECE OF CRAP!"

That got the wolf's full attention. Wind Seeker's forehead wrinkled as his eyes immediately ran down to the shrimp. He angrily glared down at Ed, pulling ears back.

Edward stopped his yelling and blinked up at Wind Seeker. His skin turned pale. "Uh-oh…"

"AH!" Ed sweat dropped as Wind Seeker jumped on his chest and pinned him to the ground.

After a second he stepped off Ed, turning stiff-legged and expanded his chest. "I am alpha" he postured.

Ed glared up at Wind Seeker, of course not knowing his body language. He hated wolves. He wiped the saliva Wind Seeker left on his cheek. "Gross…more wild animal germs…! I'll probably get rabies now!"

* * *

Edward carried his suitcase to his side, growling to himself.

Al walked beside him silently and Isis trailed behind them with Wind Seeker trotting close beside her.

Ed's narrow eyes rolled. "Urgh, you still got that _thing_ with you? You're not taking it with us are you?"

Isis nodded happily. "Wind Seeker accompanies me. He's a good boy."

"…Call me crazy but I think that mutt has a crush on you…" Ed groaned in disgust. "I mean, he peed on my leg just for holding your hand!" he groaned at the wet damp spot on his lower leg, and then grinned mischievously. "Why don't you rename him, 'Wolf from Hell', huh? I'm sure he'll answer to that more often."

Wind Seeker, who had been sniffing traces of the ground and air, stared at Ed. He cricked his tail, signaling nervousness and sniffed around, complaining. Something was wrong. The white alpha growled alarmingly and sprang forward off his hind legs.

Ed turned back and saw a charging white wolf. He shrieked and pulled his hands over his head for his defense. "I'M SORRY!" But Wind Seeker passed him by.

The white wolf disappeared into the darkness ahead.

Isis gasped. "Wind Seeker!"

Ed stood up straight. "Good riddance." He felt the wind of Isis rushing pass him at incredible speed. "Wha—Ise!"

She ignored him and quickly pushed her feet off the ground and sprang forward ten feet in the air onto a high up tree branch. She leaped from branch to branch lightly using one foot each and disappeared into the darkness.

Ed and Al stared, amazed and confused. Al's white orbs flashed weakly. He knew.

* * *

Wind Seeker's howls tuned the darkness. He walked around, tongue hanging and drooling as he panted. He howled again, calling for new his pack, Rodent (Ed), Al and Isis to follow him. Time and time again he looked behind him, waiting for his pack to show up.

Disgusting odors reached Wind Seeker's nose. The smell of ashes and gun powder poisoned the air. He sniffed in disapproval, realizing the danger of the land of the crazed man who captured his alpha female, Moon Dancer, to use for Chimera experiments. He disliked the lab. Labs meant terror to nature.

* * *

Isis dropped down on the ground. Her violet eyes blankly dilated as a sharp noise surged through her ears. She turned her head in the direction of the noise guiding her senses.

Green lasers blasted through the trees. A female deer emerged from the darkness and sped past her with its ears pulled back.

Isis saw the path of blood it left behind.

A white light swept along the barrier of Isis's eyes. She turned her whole body around and stepped cautiously towards the area. Once she got there, she stepped into an open land, soil dark, trees fallen and burned. Her eyes darted down emotionlessly. She recognized the trails of red fluid under each dead creature she laid eyes on. Isis got on her knees and carelessly sat in the red fluids of the animal. She ran her fingers through the brown fur of a dead fawn. It was shot through the stomach. Its bloody intestines splattered in dirt. More dead animals covered the land, mostly birds.

A long legged metal object disappeared over a hill.

Isis stood up with the red blood staining her gown. She walked out onto the dirt hill above the lower level and saw disaster.

Robots roamed the area freely, terminating everything in sight. One's red orbs widened as it targeted on by passing white doves in the sky.

They flew beautifully, wings glistening white and healthy, feathers clean and spotless. They were happy and excited to flutter in the winds.

The robot's red eye opened up a red beam that scanned across the sky, setting fire on feathers and exploding each dove one by one.

The field was full of metal body parts, animal skeletons and other leftovers of an out breaking war. The red sky and black ground were covered with green, blue and red laser bullets blasting out of control, bombs, screeches and ashes from explosions.

* * *

Ed sat on his rear and hung his head as he panted. "…What the hell did she just pull...?"

Al stood in front of Ed. "Is it obvious enough for you now, brother?"

Ed looked up at him between his bangs that were sticking to his forehead full of sweat. His eyes turned furious.

"She's a destructive power plant who was made to take out human kind. If we let her stay around us, she'll turn her back any day and kill us off! She's a weapon! Didn't you hear what Sage was saying? She's an emotionless, mindless doll built to destroy humanity. She's evil and she's not saf—"

"SHUT UP AL!" Ed quickly slammed his metal fist into Al's steal head and with that powerful of a blow, skidded him into the dirt on his side.

Ed stood in the position he hit his brother, panting exhaustingly. "You're wrong, dammit …Isiserah is not Iyami …" Ed raised his head and glared at his brother with huge eyes of fury. "DAMMIT AL!"

Even if the blow didn't hurt or scratch Al, it still devastated him. Al recovered his surprise and stood up, facing his brother but not looking at him. "Open your mind brother, and listen to me."

Sweat sprang from Ed's head as he cringed.

"…Sage was right. We have no clue where she came from, what her background is, how she ended up unconscious. Ever since we first found her she's been nothing but clueless and kind to you. There is obviously another side deep within her that has not unlocked yet because she doesn't remember her purpose."

"What exactly _is_ her purpose, Al!" Ed struck out his arm, screaming furiously. "Even if she possibly isn't human, she would never kill anyone."

Al continued. "She has no memory of anything, she sees the world almost like she was just born yesterday, and she's just now learning what feelings are."

Ed interrupted him quickly. "That's what makes her the opposite of what you think! She can feel human emotions!"

"She _THINKS_ she can feel. Thinking you can and actually feeling you can are two different things, brother."

Edward cringed again, now listening to his brother. His eyes grew wide, his teeth stayed gritted, sweat dripped off his jaw line.

Before anyone else spoke a word, a white wolf appeared from the darkness. It trotted near Ed and whimpered to get his attention.

Ed swung his arms for the wolf to get away. "Beat it you stupid mutt!"

Wind Seeker was reminded of how much he disliked Rodent. He barked a furious alarm and snapped at Ed to get his final attention.

Ed glanced at the Wind Seeker and then Al. He calmed his spirits. "Hey, Wind Seeker, do you know where Isis is?"

Wind Seeker's eyes coasted off and then back to Ed, saying mournfully, "lost."

Ed slapped his forehead, thinking the wolf didn't understand him. "What did I expect? I'm talking a dumb animal here…"

Wind Seeker ferociously grabbed hold of Ed's coat and yanked him towards his direction forcefully.

"Let go!"

Wind Seeker pulled harder until Ed snatched his coat away from him. "I SAID LET GO!"

The large ivory wolf clawed the ground and barked desperate complaints for Ed to follow. His paw pounded the earth before he turned around and shot off down the pathway.

Ed got the message. "Wait, maybe he's trying to take us to..."

He looked at Al who called him. "Are you completely ignoring our conversation, brother?! I thought we settled things!"

Ed frowned at Al and followed Wind Seeker.

* * *

Isis stared out into the wide-ranged laboratory. The metal building stood hundreds of feet tall, scraps and dead robotic body parts decorated the back grounds. This is where destruction marked the sky red. This is home.

"ISISERAH!"

She turned her head and fell out of her hypnosis. Isis looked into the darkness behind her, seeing a faint figure appear from it. "Ed?"

Edward smiled as he saw her ahead. But he noticed something was wrong. His smile faded. Isis's body was glowing an intricate light that shone in the darkness. It quickly faded away once her eyes saw him.

Wind Seeker stopped abruptly as if he had been burned. He lowered his head and pulled his ears back, cricking his tail. All senses near Isis told him something was not right still.

Edward stood next to her, observing the filled grounds of active robots. The winds of a quick explosion fiddled with his bangs.

Al stood behind him. Once he saw the laboratory's trashed front yard, he immediately halted with a scared gasp.

Ed scanned the land. "This bastard was literally obsessed with making the perfect weapons, wasn't he?"

His eyes fell upon a power plant. The laboratory next to it was a large silver metal made building shaped in the form of an electric running prism. Lights and full detail structure marked its appearance. Flying advanced prototypes secured the lab.

Ed raised his hand over his eyes to shade them. "I guess the only way to get into this place alive is to destroy that main power plant to shorten security's system of these robots."

Isis came to his side. "Edward..." She looked up to him sadly. "You will die."

Ed gazed down at her, opening his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a deep humming vibration.

From beneath the hill raised a flying machine. Its large airplane wings leveled under its body and the ends of them curved for the support of two laser guns. Its nine robotic red eyes scanned its enemy.

Wind Seeker pulled his tail between his legs and fled.

Ed moved back. "What the hell is that thing?!"

"Advanced prototype mechanism # 3590, code named 'Soul Executioner,'" it replied.

Ed grinned mischievously. "Well, whatever the hell you are, I'm sure Winry would love to see what makes you _tick_…"

The machine of flight aimed its lasers' points.

Ed lowered his head and sharpened the meaning of his mischief grin. "So you wanna play do ya'? Okay then, let's play a little game I like to call, 'Execute the Executioner!'"

The machine's red eyes locked all target on Ed. It read Ed's data out loud:

**/TARGET IDENTIFIED:**

**EDWARD ELRIC; STATE ALCHEMIST**

**AGE: 15**

**SEX: MALE**

**HEIGHT: 4.11/**

A vein popped out of Ed's forehead while his nostrils steamed. He became to throw his "who calling short" tantrum. "ARE YOU CALLING ME A SHORT LITTLE ELF WHO WORKS IN SANTA CLAUS'S TOY FACTORY YOU PIECE OF SCRAP HEAP TRASH METAL HEAD MORO—"

The mechanism cut him off by quickly shooting a blast at his feet, having Ed jump back five feet. The blast left a deep and large hole.

Ed sweat dropped and glared.

The machine had studied a full report on Ed's alchemy power, age, gender, his limited strength, and his weakness.

**/TERMINATE/**

The word flashed inside of the red screen within the flying machine's eyes.

**/TERMINATE INTRUDER: EDWARD ELRIC/ **

The heavy metal powered up his laser cannons on Ed.


	6. Rage of the Machines

Ed grinned and quickly jumped upward as a large blast exploded the ground beneath him. He stayed airborne in the wind for a second, watching in surprise at such a powerful devastation that one blast made in the earth.

Dust flew; little bits of rocks flew, proving the destruction.

Ed's sweat clung to him as he landed. He took battle stance. His wide eyes soon spotted Isis gazing up at the flying menace's cannons directing down at her. "ISISERAH!"

Isis ignored him. Her pupils grew larger and empty within her gaze of the prototype. The reflection of it shone in her violet eye. The mechanism charged the power within the laser beam.

Ed ran forward at high speed. He was too late to shove her out of the way. He clapped his hands together and summoned the blue electricity from his fingers. He skidded in front of Isis and pressed his hands against the earth.

The cannon fired at extraordinary power. Thanks to Ed, it was stalled by the uprising earth from the ground, standing tall and defensive, yet it didn't quite save them. The blast from the beam shot right through the rigid rock. Edward pulled Isis to the ground with him and covered his body over hers as dust and rock flew.

He lifted himself off if her and panted; all that happened was a bit too quick. "…That thing is pretty strong…" he stared at it with a weary grin. "I'm actually impressed…"

Isis blinked up at him, clutching his back. "Why did you do that?"

Ed creased his eyebrows. "No time. Just make a run for it!"

She sat there with her shoulder turned to him, confused. "But, Edward…"

He glared at her. "Get a MOVE ON!"

She only shook her head.

"LOOK OUT!" Ed shouted before a traveling came at them.

It scorched the ground and traced down the rigid earth in a heating path, trailing towards Ed and Isis. It drew too close and forced Ed to take hold of Isis and bring them to safety in a rough tumble. The beam followed. Ed moved her to safety and jumped high with his metal blade and struck at the machine's wing.

The prototype swiftly dodged and began to form another energy bomb with both cannons. Soon after the bomb was fully charged, the target, Ed, was missing. The robot scanned the area. Nothing but Isis and Al showed up on its monitors.

"HEY, TRASH HEAP!"

The machine's sensors picked up a signal. Its red eyes shifted upward.

Ed came down from the sky, his automail blade getting ready for a clash of metal. But the enemy dodged it, leaving Ed to stab the ground.

"Dammit," he panted. "...it's too fast."

He spotted the machinery hovering over the ground. Ed clapped his hands once, and formed a blue lightning in the palms of hands. He grinned and pulled the beam behind his head, then threw it down the path of the robot.

The machine avoided the blue shock waves. While the machine was distracted by a successful duck, Ed quickly maneuvered himself on the back of the flying prototype. He grinned as the thing began to panic. It flew to the sky in a large hovering vibration, rocketing at high speed in the air, trying to spin and knock Ed off.

Ed clenched his metal fist. "LIGHTS OUT, TRASH HEAP!" He buried his metal fist into the head of the prototype and ripped out the red wires.

The problem blinked and sounded off alarm in the machine's red eyes:

**/SYSTEM ALERT/**

**/SYSTEM ALERT/**

**/WARNING/**

**/WARNING/**

**/PROGRAM MALFUNCTION/**

**/DANGER/**

**/DANGER/**

**/DANGER**

**/SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM ACTIVATED/**

Ed instantly jumped off the crazed robot as sparks flew from its torn head. It glided unsteadily and spiraled until it smashed into a rock, exploding into red dust.

Ed grinned proudly, snickered and put his hands on his hips. "One down, three thousand more to go!"

Al and Isis screamed in unison, "ED, LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"

Before he got a word out after he turned to see Isis and Al, a metal octopus-like arm lunged at him and seized him by the face. It raised his feet off the ground. Ed's eyes dilated as he struggled to loosen the mechanical tentacle's suffocating grasp. The roboto's body was large and round like an abdomen, its head was flat and in the shape of a crystal, two red orbs and ten long pipe-like octopus arms. It suspended Edward by his mouth, and slammed him brutally into the ground as the earth exploded into shattered rocks.

Isis's eyes grew wide. Her mouth opened but her voice was held hostage.

The bigger menace hovered over Ed's body. The boy's red cloak, black vest and pants were ripped in shreds, his bare chest was marked with bloody bruises and deep gashes, his cheek bled from a scrape across the face, and his metal arm and leg were stained with dirt. Ed winced and slowly lifted himself up in pain, blood rolling down his forehead. He stared at the robot with one eye.

Al ran to his brother. "BROTHER!"

The larger machine whipped Al into the trees, making the steel armor break down at least fifteen trees at the most.

Wind Seeker appeared from a bush. He watched the machine try to get a hold on Ed. He charged head on towards the mechanical machine and pounced on its tentacle and jerked it viciously.

The robot's eyes flashed. Its flexible tentacle shaped into a silver metal blade. It cut across Wind Seeker's throat only slightly before it felt a blast hit its side.

Ed held his automail arm with his mortal one, blue sparks surfacing around the large metallic gun his arm had shaped into. "Back off, robot…"

When Ed didn't know it, the machine had already ambushed him from behind with one of its arms, and thanks to Ed's weakness, he couldn't dodge it.

Isis stood helpless and out of it. She watched Ed daggle by his flesh arm from the grasp of the mechanical weapon's own arm. It widened and shortened the length of its red eyes, studying Ed's body. It read the work of his automail:

**/SUPERIOR WEAPON/**

**/DETACHMENT ADVISED/**

The robot wrapped its three arms around Ed's body and squeezed him tight, forcing him to holler under the blood spilling from his mouth. Its grip was too thick for Ed to do anything to free himself. The robot's other tentacle wrapped around Ed's automail arm and pulled it.

Ed screamed with painful tears clung to his eyelashes as the robot yanked his metal arm out of the port. Next that caused the same procedure, was the detachment of his metal leg.

The automail was thrown to the rocks. The tiny scavenger robots, with thin long legs of four, circled the automail and observed it thoroughly. They decided on what to do with such valuable pieces. They glanced at each other and sent computer messages to one another. A thin metal arm extended from one robot's back, it grabbed the metal automail arm as the other robot grabbed the metal leg. They all jogged over the hill and into the disaster ahead.

Ed was now one arm and leg short. He growled furiously, pain never leaving his face. He struggled to get out of the grip of the machine with one arm. The machine cocked its head and threw him against the hard earth floor, arching Ed's back to almost snap. It slammed its tentacles down on Ed who crawled out of the way. He pathetically crawled as far as possible from his superior enemy.

He closed one eye tightly in pain, panting hard with blood blinding his eyes. "…I have…to get...them back…" He looked up to see a silver metal blade approaching him.

Ed rolled out of the way, but was struck anyway. His holler ended with a choke.

The blade had pierced under his left shoulder, spilling some blood.

**/TERMINATION/**

The robot flipped Ed over and scanned him. It held its large gun to his back.

Ed weakly lifted his blood stained face. With his present and weak arm, he shakily began to draw the transmutation circle in front of him. He squeezed his eyes tight, stopping his drawing as his body dug into the ground. The robot had poked his guts to stop him.

Isis's frozen shiver couldn't go on any longer. She couldn't just sit back and continue to hear his screams of pain. She ran in front of the machine in rage. Her violet eyes flashed blankly in the light.

The robot moved back and twisted its head around in utter confusion.

**/HACKER ALERT/**

**/HACKER ALERT/**

**/AUTHORIZATION UNIDENTIFIED/**

Isis stared into the red eyes of the machine.

The robot's eyes dilated.

She spoke simple words in a computerized voice. "SYSTEM SELF-DESTRUCT; ACTIVATE."

The robot's head spun around out of control. It repeated:

**/SYSTEM SELF-DESTRUCT; ACTIVATE/**

**/SYSTEM SELF-DESTRUCT; ACTIVATED/**

**/DANGER/**

**/DANGER/**

The robot swayed to one side and swayed to the other.

**/SELF-MALFUNCTION/**

Its red eyes flickered off as sparks fell from its head.

Al studied as he had made his way from the broken forest. He stood still and watched Isis presently. "…So she can manipulate the mechanical system of other robots' computerized mind…and even corrupt them…"

Isis turned around carelessly and bent down next to Ed's unconscious body. She helped him to his knees. She looked at Ed's empty port socket and empty leg port. She looked into his golden eyes, hidden by his eyelids lifted upward in pain. "Ed…ward..."

"I'm fine…" he lied, wheezing, coming awake after a few shakes. "I just…need to…get that automail back…" he chuckled weakly, hurting himself more. "…If these machines don't kill me….Winry sure will…"

Isis frowned sadly and stood up facing the disaster along the laboratory.

Ed opened one eye and read her face easily. "Ise, don't…"

She smiled down at Ed and traced her finger down his bloody forehead. "Stay." Isis slowly took steps towards the invisible war.

Ed's eyes widened in shock and alarm. He pleaded to her once again. " ISIS! DON'T!"

She stood over the tip of a dirt cliff, highest point over the land's machines. Her empty violet eyes stared at the fires, the laser beams and the dead of metal and bone. She stared in sadness.

Al rushed to his brother's side. He held Ed up by his back. "Brother, are you alright?"

Ed didn't answer. He hung his head and gritted his teeth in a sharp wince. His flesh arm, wounded and torn, held his empty port.

Wind Seeker had stayed a distance away. The white scruff of his neck was stained with fresh red. He had been injured while helping Ed. His throat was bleeding from a deep cut, making him breathe heavily with a hoarse whistle. The wolf unsteadily jumped to his feet and ran beside Al as the two brothers looked to Isis.

Isis stared at the ground under the cliff. There were the robotic scavengers toying with the automail. Her eyes slowly targeted. The balance of her feet suddenly shifted forward.

Ed watched her with an opened mouth gasp. "_ISISERAH! NO!_"

Isis slowly fell forward, her white feet leaving the dark soil. She closed her eyes and drifted into her lazy fall.

Ed leapt out of Al's arm only to fall to the ground helplessly. "Ise…! _Stop_!"

Isiserah was already soaring downward, her eyes closed, her face lost in the winds. Wind Seeker ran over the edge of the cliff, whining. The girl's toes remained on the base of the lower ground before she sprang off that bit of gravity and spiraled forward.

One scavenger turned its head all the way around and noted Isis's presence. She charged into the one robot and knocked them both to the ground. The other robot twisted its body up and stood on its four legs. More twisted their heads around and stopped experimenting on the automail.

The lone scavenger robot trotted toward Isis, aiming its mini gun on her. Isis stood up, swaying back and forth, off balance. The face of the mechanic weapon was gripped by the fingers of Isis's hand. She held the metal skull of the robot tightly and cocked her head to the side, bangs swaying. White lights ran across her eyes. She read: "REJECTED PROTOTYPE SCAVENGER # 1300."

The robot squirmed weakly.

Isis mouthed her last words, scans of computerization flashing throughout her eyes. "USELESS CREATION." Her slim fingers crushed the metal skull of the "useless creation" and dropped the dazed and sparking dead metal to the ground.

The others glanced at each other and then fled.

Isis stared blankly at the palm of her hand. The metal had cut her fingers. Oil, not blood, seeped out from her sliced fingers' skin. She watched it roll down her wrist and fingertips.

* * *

I lied on the dirt ground, clutching the soil beneath my nails. Angry tears poured down my face like slow rain…

"Ise…Isiserah…" I repeated her name.

I couldn't believe she did that...she just jumped off, just suicidal…

I felt a pain in my heart. I-I don't know why…but it was like a stab that wouldn't heal and I was bleeding…I couldn't stop bleeding.

I hung my head and shut my eyes tightly. "Argh…dammit, I could have stopped her…stopped her somehow…" I pounded my shaky fist against the earth, cursing myself again.

_...Isiserah..._

I felt Al staring at me emptily. "Brother…"

In the midst of my pain, I heard that stupid white wolf Isiserah named, 'Hell Runner' or 'Hell Seeker' or whatever the hell it's called. I looked up wearily, my vision blurry and unstable.

But from what my vision could pin-point, I saw a white haired figure appear from the dirt hill, carrying automail. She smiled once our eye contact met.

I smiled back, in disbelief. "…Isis…"

She walked over to me and placed the automail in front of me. She got on her knees, facing me directly. Isis put on a watery smile and bowed her head. "…Your...belongings..."

I blinked at her, furrowing my eyebrows with a smile on. "Ise…" I sat up, and reached out to take the automail.

But something jerked my hand back. I wiped off my smile. Something really wasn't right. I felt it.

I shook it off my mind and landed my hand on top of her head instead, petting it. I just gave her a friendly smile. "Thanks, Ise…I owe you one."

She smiled like a kitten; if she had a tail it would probably be wagging.

After a few seconds I braced myself to reattach my automail. This was gonna hurt like hell…

I shut my eyes and plunged my metal arm into the socket port. Nerve-wracking pain went through my entire body making me holler in soreness, trying to die out the scream. I bit my bottom lip and did the same to my metal leg. I winced and turned to Isis, completely tired and drained out…

I was shocked to see the hurt in her eyes. She looked like she wanted to cry.

I blinked and wore a goofy grin, even though my body hurt like hell, as I knew it would. "What's wrong, Ise?"

She didn't say anything. Just stared with wet eyes.

I grinned wider with sweat running down my face. I was worn out!

"Aw c'mon, you shouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine…" I stared at her, hoping she bought it. I was of course only pretending, because I was nowhere near okay. My body was in unbearable pain, my vision was blurry, my clothes were ripped, and my body was pretty much damaged completely!

Isis hung her head low. She didn't buy it…

My grin faded. "…Really, I am. I swear!" I leaned over to try and look into her eyes.

Finally, Isis looked up at me; it was a strange look though. It was an extremely concerned look. She seemed so sad…it kinda made me sad.

"…Ise…please don't look at me like that…"

I saw her bite her bottom lip and suddenly out of the blue she jumped into my arms and knocked me to the ground.

One hoarse word escaped me: "….Ouch…!"

* * *

Ed, Al, Isis stood over the hill, and plotted a plan.

Ed rotated his automail arm and grinned goofily. "I think we'll have a heck of a time blasting through machinery of mass destruction, don't you?"

Al shook his head and interrupted urgently. "Brother, you know that wasn't the plan…"

"Yeah I know, aim for the power plant generator first and that'll take out each robotic machine out there."

Al stared at Isis. _'And maybe even shut down **her** system as well…'_

Ed looked at Alphonse and beamed, raising his thumb to point at his grin. "Let's go kick some robotic butt, eh Al?"

Al nodded happily. "You got it!"

They ran down the path and straight into the raging machines.

Wind Seeker stood on the top of the hill and stared off into the no-wolf zone. His mustard yellow eyes squinted. The wolf galloped after them, barking wolf barks.

The next thing heard was Ed's whine, "HOLY CRAP! NOT YOU AGAIN! ISISERAHHH…!"

Wind Seeker's growl of mischievousness for "Rodent" echoed.

The last thing heard to be was Ed's squeaky plea, "…Ise…!"

* * *

_Okay, that was okay at the most, but I promise Isis will be revealed probably in the next chapter and you'll see what happens in the next after that…muahahaha…hope you like! Even if there are probably some OC x Ed haters out there, it doesn't make it worth not writing. _

_Ed: Wrong! _

_Me: What do you mean wrong! It's, it's like being biased or something! _

_Ed: Wrong! _

_Me: Are you saying you want to be coupled with Winry? Oooo Ed, you like Winry (no duh). _

_Ed: YES—NO! I mean no! _

_Me: (snicker) Okay everyone…I'll see ya' soon! _


	7. Ingredients to the Philosopher's stone?

The old skull crumbled in the grip of Ed's white gloved fingers. "…They literally could have destroyed everything on this entire mountainside…" Ed's flat eyes fell upon each and every skeleton spread across the grounds of the laboratory's background.

Isis slowly fell to her knees in front of a dead dove. Its neck was outstretched too far off its head, like rubber that was stretched too far off its limits. Its body was twisted around, its once white feathers were messy and stained with red. Its dilated brown eye stared into her own.

She dropped her head in sadness and carefully cupped the dead bird into her hands. Wind Seeker stood beside her. He directed his nose to the dead bird and whimpered hoarsely. Isis carefully put the dove back on its bloody spot next the other dead doves.

She felt someone behind her amd glanced up at Al, then back to her own blood stained fingers. "…It's only because they have nothing else to kill. They were made to kill..."

Al just gazed, feeling inwardly saddened. He looked away and gave a depressed sigh.

"C'mon." Ed interrupted coldly. "We can't stay here. We have to find a way to get into that laboratory now before those machines realize that we're planning on shutting them down." His eyes stayed on the power plant generator.

An electric orb of light, magnetic to hitting the dark clouds and black ground with electricity, was concealed on the top of the tower. This was supposedly the electrical power plant that the flight-machines encircled.

Ed frowned darkly. "How are we going to cut off that main system with all those robots guarding it?"

"Brother, they're coming!" Al pointed out to two walker robots with guns as arms.

Ed took hold of Isis's hand and dragged her to a high pile of scraps. He hid himself, Isis, and Al behind it and was thankfully out of sight. When everything was silent from the large footsteps of the robots' feet quaking the earth, Ed's head surfaced above the scrap pile. He blinked curiously and looked around him. He had to do a double-take to realize the large walkers were twenty feet away.

"…We don't have time for this!" Ed growled under his breath. "We've gotta get past them…"

The robotics' red eyes flashed. They immediately spun their upper bodies in Ed's direction.

He blinked and quickly hid his head, Al doing the same, but Isis staying revealed. She slowly lifted herself up to stand, still staring curiously at the tall weapons.

"ISE!" Ed's whisper rasped loudly before he yanked her back down.

The walkers glanced at one another and instantly dashed forward. They positioned their guns and blasted fire-power. The four blasts hit the pile of scraps with demolishing force and destroyed the site entirely. The robots scanned the red flames for survivors.

**/ENEMY ANNIHILATED/**

They stomped away to kill their next victims.

The slim fingers of Isis clutched Ed's torn black top. He pressed her close against his bare chest, pushing his back against the high piles of metal. They had avoided the violent explosion before it hit and ran to a safer spot.

Ed breathed angrily, and pried Isis off him by her shoulders. "We have to keep moving…" He crawled in the dark soil and past Al who was sitting next to him.

Isis was about to follow, but just realized her companion was missing. "Wind Seeker….?" She about-faced and left Ed and Al.

Al crawled right after Ed and saw her head into the direction of danger. He gasped lightly, letting it echo in his armor and reached out his hand. But then he drew it back and decided this was right. Al followed Ed without making his brother aware of Isis's disappearance. _'It's better…even if he does love her…' _

They crawled near another metal-stacked pile closer to the entrance of the laboratory. Ed poked his head from over the metal heap and squinted his eyes, mind drawing from the Lab to the generator.

"Okay here's the plan, simple as alchemy. We're going to have to sneak past these security robots until we get behind that power plant. When we reach there, I'll distract those flying prototypes while Al goes through the entrance and into the power plant's main unit control. From there on, Ise will…." He paused when his eyes fell upon an empty spot next to Al.

Sweat ran down Ed's face. "Al…" he said in almost a whisper of stressed fear. "…Where's Ise….?"

Al's shoulders flinched before his eyes darted down to the floor.

Ed's mouth fell open. He spoke again, voice chafe now. "Well? Where is she!"

"…She's…" Al trailed off.

Ed stood up, angered. "She disappeared!? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER?" he stood on top of the metal pile, foot nearly slipping off the slick copper and iron elements.

Ed widely searched the landscape, his dirty blonde bangs drenched musty from sweat getting in the way of his eyes.

In a region his eyes had pasted, three laser beams flew across the sky and hit the solid earth with an explosion following after.

Ed's eyes withdrew back to the vigorous zone. He terrifyingly jumped off the metal steep pile and ran down the direction of destruction.

Al got up immediately. "Brother, please don't!"

But as hard-headed as Ed was, he wouldn't stay to listen to a word spoken. The boy was simply stubborn and close-minded most of the time, and this time it really kicked in.

* * *

Wind Seeker left his new pack in search for his rime-gray mate. He had smelt of wolf here, but it was a mixed scent of wolf and…something else.

He pulled his ears back and walked cautiously near the entrance into the power plant generator. His stern yellow eyes glanced at a marking symbol on the side of the tower's wall before he entered.

There was a cross with a snake slithered around it and a pair of wings with a crown above it. Even the wolf recognized that symbol. He cringed and rumbled angrily. It's the same symbol that marked the crazed man's white coat, the one who took his mate away.

Another growl answered Wind Seeker that had a secondary tone to it.

Wind Seeker lowered his head, fur bristling, teeth bared, tail and ears erect.

* * *

Isis was being shot at ferociously by the walker-F10-robots. Five had lined up in a row and positioned their guns on her, shooting like all hell had broken out.

She, surprisingly, was able to withstand the laser beams. All she had to do was stand there, emotionlessly staring at her enemies hitting everything around, behind and in front of her _but_ her. Her violet eyes dilated once and shortened length again.

Her computerized voice read the machine's new commands. "ENEMY TERMINATION RECOGNITION, IMMOBILIZE."

The machines immediately stopped blasting pointless fire-power. Their red eyes beamed with spectrum radiantly glowing against their empty orbs.

They all repeated in unison:

**/ENEMY TERMINATION RECOGNITION, IMMOBILIZED/**

Three square white lights swept across Isis's irises. "ACTIVATE SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM."

**/SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM ACTIVATED/**

One by one, the self-destruction label forced every walker-F10-robot's system to corrupt in flames.

Isis was about to continue walking, until she heard the large footsteps of another machine beside her. The shadow hovered over her and darkened her eye sight. Before she was able to see the attacker mechanism, something was plunged into the connectors on her back and shut her down…

The last thing she heard was the drowning out soulless voice:

**/ARTIFICIAL WEAPON ACQUIRED/**

* * *

"ISISERAH!" Ed was at least twenty feet away to witness the capture of Isis.

Ed was going to go insane. His eyes grew wide, his teeth were clenched tightly as he winced for no reason, and empty vocals filled his voice with a hoarse breath. "NO!" he was about to charge head-on toward the robotic assaulter, face singed with confusion, fear, remorse, agony...

Just in time a steel hand held his shoulder back. "Brother, please, calm down."

Ed stared at Al fixedly in hurt, one single sweat droplet running down his jaw line. His face mustered a distressful glare. "Let me go…!"

Al shook his head, the strings in the back of his helmet flying behind him. "We can't go after her, brother, not yet. We have to—"

Ed stole his shoulder away from Al. "You're doing this just because you want her to die, don't you?"

Al grabbed his brother by the arm this time. "Ed…! You can't be so reckless! If you barge in there they'll kill you too!"

Ed yanked away his arm. "Get offa me!"

The steel armor grabbed his brother and held him in a body lock; both steel arms wrapped over Ed's arm pits. "I'm not letting you go, Ed!"

Ed struggled furiously, kicking his heels against Al's steel chest just to make a few clanking vibrations. "LET ME GO, AL! ARGH! DAMMIT, AL; LET GO!"

"We have to stick with our plan, FIRST! And then we will have a better chance at saving Isis!" Al didn't want to say that. He wanted nothing more than Isis gone. But if this was the only way to convince brother, then he'd say anything he must.

Ed rasped a snarl and quickly summoned his metal blade. "…I'm warning you…" he threatened his own brother.

"Ed! If you want to save her without killing yourself, you've got to stick to the plan! If you go now your chances in saving Isis are zero to none!"

Ed soon stopped his squirming and thought with common sense. He lowered his head.

Al released him hesitantly. "If you want to save her….we have to shut down these robots…"

Ed stood silent with his eyes glued to his feet. "…Alright, Al…" his voice almost came in a sad trembling choke. He tried his best to hide his deep sorrow and replace it with solemn determination. "Let's do it."

"Right…."

* * *

Chimera.

Wind Seeker backed up, snarling ravenously at it. He revealed his fangs and sipped at it.

The Chimera gave the white wolf a slobbery bark.

This was Moon Dancer, his rime-gray mate combined within genetically different tissues from elk, genetically different tissues from wolf combined by alchemy. It was a throw-away, a useless experiment that was randomly used to secure the power plant generator from intruders.

Wind Seeker could not attack her. She was his alpha female. He could only emptily threaten her to stay away, nothing else.

Moon Dancer was ten times larger than Wind Seeker, her rime-gray coat dark and dirty, her yellow eyes full of pain and hate. Her back legs were elk hooves, not paws. A pair of broad and pointy elk antlers cornered Wind Seeker against the wall inside the main control room of the power plant.

Chimera lashed out at the white wolf with four sharp claws. After a miss, she rammed her antlers into Wind Seeker and took hold of his bandaged leg in her fangs while Wind Seeker kept nipping at her elk ear. The white wolf was thrown into the wall, foreleg bleeding again. A puddle formed around it; Wind Seeker panting throatily.

He felt he had to attack. Chimera smelt like Moon Dancer but was not Moon Dancer. He weakly grabbed the scruff of her neck and tried pulling her to the floor, but the Chimera was too big. Wind Seeker kept on tugging and ripping at the Chimera by the scruff of her neck and hauling her against the main control's support unit, bashing everything. The harsh bash was so powerful the one antler of the Chimera was instantly snapped off.

He tossed her from side to side by her neck in his mouth, never letting go. They paused for a minute, the white wolf's fangs still in the Chimera's back neck. Erupting growls and earth quaking snarls filled the control room. Wind Seeker accidentally walloped himself into the main control's support unit again and creased a dent in it. Electricity sparked along the levers, green and red buttons.

Wind Seeker had an advantage, even with the Chimera being larger than he; she was clumsy and tripped to the ground with Wind Seeker's jaws locked on her neck.

The male wolf released. Red had stained his jaw. Once a wolf has fallen the battle was won. That was the rule of wolf battle. But he forgot Moon Dancer was no longer wolf. The Chimera tore some flesh off of Wind Seeker with her two saber-toothed fangs. A high-dog yelp escaped the white wolf. She raked her claws into Wind Seeker's back, leaving four large distant lines.

The white wolf made a get away for the metal hills as he limped and bled. He was stopped from a brutal yank by the tail. The Chimera growled hungrily with the bloody white tail in between her fangs. She dragged Wind Seeker down the hill.

* * *

Al sneakily crept behind the entrance door, not even seeing or hearing the Chimera and wolf snarls. Ed was doing his part as the decoy for the prototypes. Their eagerness to kill was what distracted them. He had shot at numerous flying prototypes to get the others' attention.

Al tinkered with the broken control units, not knowing what to do. "Okay…uh…it must be this one!" he randomly pulled a lever.

This powered up the power plant's electric orb, shocking every machine in contact and fueling their energy.

At the quick bolt charge Ed was almost blast to bits by one small prototype's high charged laser beams. He ran past the power plant entrance and fumed at his little brother. " AL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Al sweat dropped and turned back to the control panel. "Oops…I don't think it was supposed to do that."

* * *

Wind Seeker scraped the skin beneath the Chimera's chin with his back leg and limped difficultly up the hill. They both stood in the face of the moon. Wind Seeker backed up and snarled with blood leaking from the side of his mouth. His foreleg bled and trembled. He tried to set it down but yelped and had to hold it lifted again. His breathing was a husky pant; his eyes were squinted and tired. The Chimera looked hungry, yet pained all in one. It shook off some blood from its lion-like hood and stepped closer to Wind Seeker.

Wind Seeker glanced to the side of him; a steep drop in the metal stabbing edges. His yellow eyes stared back up at the Chimera. This was the only way. For the last time he saw the rime-gray Moon Dancer in the moonlight. Wind Seeker whimpered in loss.

The white wolf snapped at the Chimera and suddenly grabbed the back of her neck again. With all his draining might, he flipped the Chimera over and soon she was plunged out of sight down the steep darkness.

A loud and painful hoarse yelp was heard after a stabbing noise.

Wind Seeker carefully climbed down the steep drop and ran to Moon Dancer's side. She had been paralyzed; lower body was punctured with a sharp metal object bloodily sticking out of her body. The blood rolled down her stomach and stained her gray fur. The Chimera whimpered in agony.

Wind Seeker mouthed her nose affectionately. He stared into her calm yellow eyes. Moon Dancer.

The Chimera suddenly gagged again. She vomited up a bloody metal device from her throat. Wind Seeker inspected it. It was a blinking yellow light device used to insure a security functional Chimera.

The Chimera laid its head back down. The light in her eyes began to die…

Wind Seeker nuzzled her mouth. After the short moment the Chimera's eyes stared into his in a frozen death. Wind Seeker threw his head back and sang the wolf howls of loss.

* * *

"AH!" A flying prototype shot thicker purple lasers at Ed's feet.

Some used a hidden electrical bolt to try and shock him all through the bones. Ed stopped in his tracks in a rough skid. Another small flight prototype tried to ambush him from behind. Ed eyed it with a grin and quickly snatched it out of the air. The small prototype shot aimless blast furiously while he was being held by its silver flat head. Ed held the small bottom guns beneath the little machine's stomach and let them shoot frantically at the other small hovering prototypes as all were blasted out of the sky.

Ed did his victory grin. "Bull's Eye!"

He was jerked by the small robot shooting out of control. He ripped off the small guns and swung the machine.

It whined robotic vibrations.

"Stop complaining!" he slammed it into the metal floor.

The dead robot sparked and soon exploded.

The fifteen year old put his hands on his hips and just smiled. "And that's what I call backyard robot barbecue."

"BROTHER!"

Ed spun around to see Al happily waving at him from the distance. Ed ran to his larger brother, hoping for good news. "So did you get it?"

"See for yourself!" Al pointed out to the region of paralyzed robots.

The machineries where all shut down, no red eyes glowing and in search for live organisms, no guns going off in an invisible war. Everything on the land was still and silent.

Ed shaded his eyes with a hand. "Hey, you're right! Good work, Al."

"Thanks!"

"Now," Ed suddenly became dead serious. "Let's get Isiserah back…"

Al's joyfulness vanished. He hoped Ed had forgotten about her.

The determined older brother turned his back with a swing of his blonde braid and began to walk near the laboratory. Al wanted to stop him, but no matter what, Ed would refuse. He shook his head and followed in desperate need to want Isis gone. She was the artificial weapon and she would kill Ed.

An alarming bark stopped them. Wind Seeker limped beside Ed with his tongue drooling.

Ed stepped back with a disgusted/afraid expression. "AH! Oh no, not you again! What is it with you? Why won't you leave us alone?!"

Al kneeled down beside exhausted Wind Seeker. "…He's bleeding badly."

The wolf's foreleg, back, and chin were bloody. He was no longer a pure white wolf.

Ed set his hands on his knees and leaned over to see. "…What happened to him?"

"I don't know, but it looks serious. What should we do?"

Ed shrugged. "It's Isis's dog."

"It's a wolf."

"Whatever!"

Wind Seeker narrowed his eyes and limped ahead of them. He stiffened his tail upward and head high, saying, "I am strong alpha. No weakness." His eye rolled back at Ed walking behind him.

"I don't think he agrees. But I _do_ think he wants to lead us, brother." Al looked at his brother.

Ed growled and narrowed his own eyes. "Well if it bleeds to death it'll be its own damn fault."

They came in front of the metal door of the prism shaped building. Coordinating lights intricately followed in a trail along the metal door. Ed stared at the small box pined to the prism wall. He examined the buttons used to do whatever to this door. He quickly summoned his metal blade and smashed it. Blue sparks flew and the metallic doors parted their puzzle-like closing and opened for their foes.

Ed motioned to his brother. "Let's go!"

The three ran into the dark entrance of the lab. Blue-metal generators shaped in more prisms surrounded the sides of the metal walls. A large white tube of light entered the ceiling and the bottom entered the floor. This place was all metal and weaponry.

Wind Seeker suddenly shoved Ed's legs out of the way and ran in the lead, dragging his wounded foreleg.

"Hell Runner!" Ed whispered in rage. "Get back here, you stupid mutt!"

Wind Seeker stopped in his tracks and barked at him. He disappeared in the darkness between two power plants.

Ed's eyes grew wide. A red vein popped out of his head. "DAMN THAT DOG!"

"Wolf." Al correctly smartly.

Ed's head steamed. "WHATEVER!"

Al shook his head. "He wants us to follow him."

Ed stared up at him in confusion. "Since when did you become a wolf expert?"

"Just come on!" Al grabbed Ed's arm and led him down Wind Seeker's path.

They came to a halt in the doorway of an office room. Well, it resembled an office room. The walls, the floors, the ceiling, the desk and all were of course metallic. The room wasn't square; it was longer, a rectangular space. Papers and pens were scattered across the ground and metallic desk. Some blood was stained in splattered lines across the walls.

Wind Seeker was spotted sniffed about on bloody file folders. He glanced at the two and sat down from trembling weakness. Ed was the first to walk in with precaution. His eyes met some nearly burnt folder files. He searched through the first folder containing document and records.

Al saw something else that caught his attention. "Brother, look at this…"

Ed stepped beside Al who was shuffling through black tipped burnt papers on the ground. He held a sheet of paper with drawn objects on it. "Two transmutation circles…two arrays."

Ed's mind clicked. He had seen this before. He gritted his teeth and slammed the files on the desk. "These are the research files containing information on the Artificial Human Iyami and….the Philosopher's stone…"

There was a dead silence in the room.

"….Mustang had given us a few files on Iyami, remember Al?"

"…Yes."

"Here's the full document on Iyami…the notes from Dr. Libony." Ed's cold gold eyes followed the words as he read out loud:

_"The synthetic human built to obtain the source of the stone, built to wipe out humankind and rebuild the world is my greatest creation. My child. She is a successful design; insincere, emotionless, and ineligible of human feelings. But, her heart requires the Philosopher's stone to operate correctly. For now, her system is a time-bomb, incomplete. Her learning system is not immobilized. I must delete this mistake. The ingredient to the stone is at edge, but I will recreate it once again. The ultimate weapon. The perfect human. At last she will awake before **he** finds her and uses her for his own doings." _

Ed took out some images of the Artificial human. Black and white images of a metal skeleton and one of a glowing white nude human filled the pictures of the so called, "Weapon."

Al cocked his head. "…There's more here, though the paper is half burnt so we can't translate it all." Al set a few papers on the desk beside the folders. "Dr. Libony did a lot of research on the Philosopher's stone. Just look at all this writing next to the two circles." He pointed to the same arrays and combined transmutation circles, or the hexagonal shape. "Why didn't he just make a Homunculus (sp?)?"

Ed's fingers held his chin. "I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with a robot not having a mind. Well not a mind of its own at least. Robots are weapons used to follow every command without hesitation or protest. Homunculi are just a human sin created by a human, so it has a mind of its own, and will do whatever. Dr. Libony despised anything near human feelings or heart."

"No matter how you see it, both are artificial with no true soul…"

"Yeah, but a Homunculi may cause too much trouble. The robot won't really rebel against something it disagrees with, you know? They are not built to make its own decision."

"Depends, brother."

Ed looked up at Al. He could see a skeptical look on Al's face, even if he couldn't actually see sight of it. "Both are used by doing alchemy. But we've got to destroy this project Iyami before it's released."

Al shook his steel skull helmet. "Brother, you know as well as I do..."

" AL." Ed's voice was a warning. He closed his eyes and said between gritted teeth, "How many times do I have to tell you…ISISERAH IS NOT IYAMI!" he violently threw his arm out to strike the air.

Wind Seeker was standing beside Al the whole time and had pulled his ears back while complaining croakily to Ed. He scratched the ground and looked to it and to Ed. Both golden eyes met for a long pause.

Ed actually got this message. He quickly furrowed his eyebrows. "Not you too, damn it. I thought you were Isis's pet!"

Wind Seeker rumbled in his chest.

Ed's childish complaint over the wolf soon turned into a serious anger towards Al's comments. He spun around and headed out the door. "Let's just find the main experimental room and look for Isis, okay?—Hey," he whistled to Wind Seeker. "Hell Runner, why don't you sniff around for Isis's trail?"

Wind Seeker cocked his head from side to side and walked in front of Ed. His black nose creased the air. He took off.

Ed and Al followed between dense silences. According to their guide, Isis was just beyond the steel doors of the next large main unit network center. They would find out who was the kidnapper and settle the debate over Isis as Iyami or not…

Ed tightened the clench of his fists to where they began to quaver. His golden eyes flickered amber luminosity. Whoever did this to Isis would pay the fee big time…


	8. Mindless Doll

The automated steel doors opened for Ed, Al and Wind Seeker. Edward's eyes quickly went over a quick scan over the experimental room.

It was just like the entrance, but with one large capsule. Deeper into the base, another area was a corner full of control panels, levers, wires, plugs, and a broken glass tube. Red liquid leaked out of the tube and dampened the floor.

Ed raised an eyebrow. He took out a picture of Iyami from his jacket. He stared at it and then the broken glass tube. "Al, we're in the creational room of project Iyami…" he glanced around again. "But if that's so, where is she?"

"Welcome, Fullmetal." A voice echoed.

Wind Seeker bent his ears back and raised his black lips to show off his fangs.

Ed jolted back. He straightened up rather quickly to hide the secondary surprise. "Show yourself!"

The dark man appeared out of the dark shadows in a top and pants to match his sinister look. His black hair fell over his shoulders and face. His glasses shined light and hid his red eyes away. "Remember me?"

It took a few seconds for Ed to recall that face. He clenched his teeth and fists in a pissed reminder. "Sage…I thought we got rid of you! What the hell are you doing here?!"

The pale man shifted his glasses upward with one finger for better vision. "To take the weapon of mass destruction into my own control."

"But I thought you said your job was to destroy it."

Sage smirked with a small chuckle. "Why would I tell a pathetic child my own personal intentions, let alone the state? As curious as you children are, I'm guessing you'd like me to map out what that means, don't you?"

Ed folded his arms and narrowed his eyes in boredom. "Humor me."

"What I do with my own power is my concern. I want nothing to do with the state. I just want it destroyed like my old friend Dr. Libony…"

"Dr. Libony?" Ed gave him a depraved glare. "You were the one who murdered him, weren't you? You and your men barged in—"

"Under state regulations to legally execute the crazed man of alchemy and weapons, yes. It was my duty to publicize the actions of his work and banish him from the state." He smirked at Edward sneakily. "I see you've been doing your homework on my record haven't you, kid?"

Ed grinned humorlessly. "I could say the same for you."

Sage only shrugged. "Birds chirp and the twitter happened to fly through my window. Rumor spreads he's a little pipsqueak and the description fits perfectly."

Ed couldn't control _it_. His urge was too sharp. "WHO YOU CALLING AN ULTRA-HYPER MIDGET YOU JERK!"

"Brother, please!" Al tried to settle him down.

Sage pulled out a sharply made dagger down his sleeve and scanned the point contently. "Libony was a man of pain. His dream was to disrupt the lives of all who lived on earth. Years back he spent his life building these…_machines_, to serve the military, but an accident in his creations came up. One of our F10's turned on its officer and nearly wiped out the entire army of our State Alchemist soldiers. It caused a debate over banishing Dr. Libony and his creations forever. He disappeared afterwards…"

Ed had been listening closely. He set his hands on his hips, his gaze never weak. "So after the settlement you set out to find Dr. Libony and take him out of the picture permanently."

"Yes, but I decided I needed something from him."

Al glanced down on Ed in slight confusion. "But why would he want to destroy the state with Dr. Libony's weapon?"

"I don't know, Al."

The room's intricate light swept along the sides of the wall, the ceiling, the floor and brightened the machinery.

Sage continued on, telling the full summary. "Right after my official orders to execute Dr. Libony, my men and I carried out these wishes and were on our way to destroy project Iyami. The imperfect system had suddenly awakened. The power of her light shattered the glass capsule and disconnected her plugs. At the moment I had to destroy her, she somehow disabled the use of my weapon, killed my men and escaped me with a half-operating system. And this is how…she came to you."

The comment set Ed's anger off. He viciously clenched his teeth with wide and disturbed eyes.

Sage raised a black eyebrow. "Isis is what you call her. You gave her half the name of a goddess when her true name means that of darkness? That emotionless robot is anything but beautiful. She is the meaning of hell, a killing machine."

Ed stressed a deep growl between gritted teeth. His fists were quaking uncontrollably. He charged toward Sage without thinking.

Al failed in restraining him. "BROTHER, NO!"

Sage stopped his preaching and stared at Ed calmly.

For some reason, Ed's automail arm and leg immediately paralyzed under blue light and awkwardly bent. It caused sweat to fling from his forehead. He collapsed to his knees, holding one useless automail arm. The pain shot through his nerves and severely hurt his body. His loud rasping yelps of agony filled his throat.

Ed shut his eyes tight. "What the…what the hell did you do?!"

Sage grinned and closed his eyes. He pulled his sleeve down to reveal a metal arm; full operating machinery like those robots. It wasn't normal automail. The complex lights traced the detail of the silver metal and red eyes built into the density. Two tentacle heads extended their necks with one red eye at the tips.

Wind Seeker barked and backed up in confusing fear.

Sage inspected his arm thoroughly. "When I was at hair's length to killing her, she disabled and destroyed more than my weapon. That is how dangerous she is. Realize that, Fullmetal."

Ed gritted his teeth under terrible vision. "So, lemme guess. That robotic arm of yours has a power to disable other mechanical objects such as automail and weaken the connection of the nerves."

"Not only that, but it can be shaped into any object I wish or strangle the life out of anything I choose to destroy."

Al was about to come to Ed's aid until he gave him a death glare. He was only saying "Stay back."

Sage stood in front of his arched body. He held up Ed's chin with a thick dagger connected to his robotic arm that sliced the surface of his flesh. "You're a reckless boy, State Alchemist, you really are. But why would the state give a shrimp like you such a job as National Alchemist? The military is growing desperate these days aren't they?"

Ed's eyes twitched in annoyance and combined pain. "Could…you please stop calling me a damn shrimp! It ticks me off a lot thank you very fucking much…!"

Sage skinned his chin as he departed his knife. He struck out at Ed's face and threw him feet away. Another gash scarred Ed's cheek.

"Mr. Sage I beg you!" A mourning voice pleaded from the darkness behind Sage.

Everyone looked ahead to see a white figure run out of the abyss.

Ed sat up weakly shaken. He couldn't find his voice to say her name, but he knew it was her.

Isis appeared from the shadows with a teary expression on her face. She stood a scared distance beside Sage and shook her head violently. "Mr. Sage, please don't hurt Edward!"

He stared at her questioningly. "Why do you care so much?"

Isis stared at Ed from the vastness away. Her violet orbs looked into his shocked golden ones. She missed seeing those eyes. "He's my friend."

"You have no feelings of happiness, love, sadness, regret, or anger. Don't bore me, Iyami."

Isis stepped a little bit closer to Sage while clutching the white fabric of her gown. "I am not Iyami."

The mad man grabbed her wrist and dragged her closer to his pale face. "You are, my dear." His fingers held her chin up and inches from his face. "You are not controlled by emotions; you are not human."

"I am human!" Isis snapped.

"You are artificial." He yanked her again. "You are a soulless robot made to kill and nothing else."

Isis stole her wrist away and flew backwards with a struggle to balance her feet. She stared at Sage with childish fear. "…I am not a weapon…"

"Iyami, Iyami, Iyami." Sage shook his head and waved his metallic finger. "You are not human either."

Isis shook her head again. "You don't know me!"

"And neither do you!"

Ed stood up, still sore but apparently no longer paralyzed. The attack only lasted temporarily. "For the last time, Isis is full flesh and blood! She's not a robot!"

Sage glanced at the two and smirked greedily. "I'll prove to you that she is full metal and nothing other than metal!" He pulled out a large pistol and directed it towards Isis who stood feet away behind him.

Ed's eyes widened, his heart stopped. A panic swept through him. He held out his hand in a gesture to stop. "STOP!" He was on the verge of running forward.

Al held him back by both shoulders.

"She's never done anything to you, she's not worth it!" Ed's cry was a desperate plead that no one had ever heard before. It was like he was pleading for his own life. "Don't kill her, please!"

Sage ignored. He shot a bullet into Isis's skull.

"NO!" Ed's pupils dilated and quaked in his eye sockets. He ran forward and pulled away from Al's grasp violently. "ISISERAAAAH!"

Al had to continuously grab hold of him and try to restrain him from getting in the way. "BROTHER!"

Ed suddenly stopped in a dead pause when he realized what had happened was too late for him to stop. He wanted to die. He started at Isis lying lifelessly on the cold ground. He shut his eyes and violently shook away his tears.

But then the girl's foot twitched. She sat up; swaying from side to side aimlessly.

Ed had forced on a teary smile, but his smile was wiped off when he took a better look. His scared golden irises enlarged after a quick cower. A large hole was resting between her eyes.

Ed fell completely out of it. He dropped to his knees in a dazed stare. Wind Seeker whimpered and hung his head.

"…Y-You…" Ed barely managed to get his pained words out. "You aren't…you're…" a single dirty tear hit the floor. "…You're a machine…"

Al stared sadly into his brother's wounded face. "I tried to tell you, brother…"

Ed glanced at him achingly.

Isis stared back into his gold eyes. She touched the hole buried deep within her skull; some flesh tore off, lingering on the pad of her finger as she stared at it. "...Why?"

Sage blinked.

"Why…am I…not...human?" She pressed her shaky fingers to her heart. "I feel love…just like humans do."

Ed flinched in surprise. _  
_

Isis looked at her own hands. "I...am...not a weapon…I am human. I feel; I feel the warmth of emotions...I feel them..."

"You _think_ those emotions in your incomplete programming. Your feelings are fake." Sage grabbed her by the hair and jerked her to him.

Ed took steps forward in rage. "What are you doing?!" He mentally struck himself for caring.

Sage held her white hair high and turned her back to face Ed. "This is proof that she is the Iyami project built to destroy!"

Ed looked closer. His breath came in an inward gasp. "The array used to create the Philosopher's stone…"

The symbol of these special arrays marked the middle of her back. Isis looked behind her and saw the image in terror. Her violet eyes grew large. She pushed Sage away from her and fell onto the floor.

Ed's flattened orbs stared motionlessly to his feet, his blonde bangs covering sinister shadows over his pained irises. He stayed in a deep emptiness…

Isis glanced at him, tears in her eyes. She got on all fours and faced the distance between her and Ed. The lights in her eyes shimmered frantically now. "…Ed...ward..."

Ed raised his head immediately. His breathing was labored in remorse. "…Ise…"

Isis stood up fully and in front of Edward. She slowly walked near him with her hand held out, trying to reach for him. "…Ed…ward..." she whispered.

Ed opened his mouth but his voice was lost.

After countless seconds she was standing in front of him, eyes locked on his and searching, searching for any sign of anger, hatred, disgust. She saw none of it. All she could see was the heartbreaking soreness in his golden eyes, golden eyes that were empty and lifeless.

Isis wanted to sob. She wished she could siv, but what she wished the most was to take away that pain in his heart. To take away that misery and make him smile. "Be...cause...you...are...beautiful, when you smile..."

Edward's forehead creased up.

She stepped closer to him to where all that stood between them where tiny inches. Isis slowly drew her hands near him to hold him and tell him not to hurt anymore.

Ed returned the deepened gaze with an ache in his chest. He stared into the depths of those artificial eyes. He strained his golden ones wider and slowly lifted a trembling white gloved hand to her face. Tiresome stress bags were under his far-opened eyes.

Al stepped closer just to stop him if needed. Wind Seeker on the other hand, had dropped on his belly and rested his chin on his paw. There was nothing he could do here. He lost another mate.

Finally Ed's hand caressed Isis's cheek. As he slowly began stroking the side of her white hair strands, his hand trembled even more. He was trying to convince himself it was still Isiserah. But how could he? His eyes ran along the path leading down to the open hole of metal. His heart squeezed itself tight in his chest.

Isis flattened her eyes and closed them to rest her cheek lightly against his hand. Her watery eyes opened halfway to see the spreading hurt in his gold ones.

Ed pulled his hand away, mouth open, eyes widened and breathing struggling to come.

"Ed...ward...do you hate me?" She said as simple and worried like a human being.

He flinched slightly at the question. "I…" He dropped his head to let his long blonde bangs hide his face.

Isis was speechless. "Ed…ward..."

He turned his gaze to the side of him and closed his eyes.

Before she could say anything else an agonizing pain jolted her and forced her to collapse to the floor.

"ISISERAH!" Ed was about to help her up but he took his hands away from her arched body. Something else told him 'no.' He stopped in his tracks and stared down at her shivering body. Something told him to stay away from her at all costs.

Isis slowly lifted up in weakness and caressed her heart. "Why…does it hurt?"

Ed's reached out hand withdrew to his side in a fist fold. It shook tremendously. Sweat held onto his skin. All he could do was stand there like a fool. He couldn't do anything. He knew he couldn't. She is _her_.

Sage called her. "Iyami."

She turned her head to see Sage holding a red stone in his fingers. Her violet eyes dilated. The Philosopher's stone red array appeared on her forehead.

Al's gasp echoed inwardly. "That's…that's the Philosopher's stone!"

Sage slowly showed off the sides of the gleaming stone. "Yes, the stone created by using human souls."

Ed tried to keep in his urge to beat the crap out of this guy. "What souls did he use to do it?!"

"Friends, family, innocent childern." Sage said it like it meant nothing. Like it didn't matter to sarcifice humans. "Dr. Libony…he created the stone for the purpose of Iyami." Ed recalled all memory of that file. If she is aware and merged with the stone her system will be complete. "Oh no…!"

The red stone's electric bolts shocked the fingers of its holder and escaped from Sage's hands. He held his numb wrist in surprise and agony. The stone drifted towards Isis in a red orbit of light. She slowly stood up and walked emptily near the orb. Her violet eyes were left with blankness, just like a robot.

While Ed and Al watched with terror in their hearts, Sage watched with a delighted smirk despite the pain in his arm. The two powerful creations stood erect. Isis cupped her hands around the red stone and stimulated the bright power of it. The red orbit sent vibration waves around the room and shattered every glass obstacle in sight.

The Philosopher's stone's symbolizing arrays marked the ground beneath her in red light. The light rose and brightened the energy in the room. Red sparks flew and shocked the air. Ed and Al shielded their faces with their arms while Wind Seeker stood paralyzed by what was happening to the one he thought he knew as a friend.

Isis's hair roamed freely in the atmosphere as she closed her eyes and felt the stone depart into tiny streams of red light. Once every red light of the stone had transferred its power into the symbol on her back the quaking of the room stopped.

Ed took his arm away and looked ahead to see Isis's body shining an intricate light. Her white hair was drifting in wavering patterns. He squinted his eyes to see her face in better vision. The two arrays of the Philosopher's stone's symbol stayed visible on her forehead and back. The metallic hole in her skull slowly repaired itself. Isis's eyelashes stayed rested against her cheeks.

Sage grinned pleasingly at his new weapon. "Iyami."

Her eyes came open in the color of murderess robotic red. Her once childlike face was now the expressionless robot with the eyes of violence. Her computerized voice echoed:

**/VOICE RECOGNITION CONFIRMED/**

Ed's chest deflated along with the drop of his shoulders. His eyebrows knotted against his wrinkled forehead. Ed fell on his knees and then on all four. His strained face stared shockingly at the lines paved into the metal on the ground inches away beneath his neck. The parallel lights traced against his golden eyes beamed in shudders before he closed them.

"…That's it…" A tear outlined the dirt stained along the side of his nose. "…She's no longer Isis…" he seized a hoarse and shaky whimper. "…Her robotic programming is complete, she's Iyami…"

Sage took his gaze over to the pathetic boy. "She's always been Iyami, you fool."

Ed was in fact correct. Iyami was now nothing more than a mindless doll with the built network designed to do anything her master told her to.

**/PLEASE ENTER YOUR INSTRUCTIONS/**

"As you wish, Iyami." Sage's red eyes darted over to Ed. "Kill the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Ed's eyes flung open widely. He held the intensity of his breath in shock of the new order.

**/YES, MASTER/**

Iyami switched her body around and faced Ed. Her red eyes flickered radiantly.

**/TERMINATE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST EDWARD ELRIC/ **

Her systems were ready to kill him.

The only thought running through his mind now had nothing to do with a fear of him dying. He didn't fear death, he wasn't important to himself. His main thought was, _'Is the one I was close to...really gonna kill me?'_


	9. Fullmetal Alchemist's Death?

Iyami walked near him with red sparks shocking the ground behind every step she took.

"Brother, you better be careful!" Al warned.

Ed stood up and slowly moved back. He knew what she could do, and what she could do was dangerous. He had to defend himself or at least talk her out of it. " Isis, I know you're in there! Listen to me, think of all the memories you made for yourself. All the happiness and good times. Do you really want to throw it all away and go through with this?"

Iyami said nothing nor did she show any emotion towards it; no rage, no desire to kill, no remorse, or feelings of purity or darkness. She was a robot built to do as told, not to feel.

Edward furrowed his eyebrows and began to take steps back as she came nearer. "Isis, listen to me!"

Iyami closed her unblinking red eyes and clapped her hands together. Red energy flowed through her fingers as she departed her hands. She grasped the red electric light in the palm of her hand and scanned the hand over her arm. The red sparks immobilized it and slowly shaped her arm into a glowing stabbing object. She peered back at Edward and positioned it correctly to aim at his heart. Iyami sprang forward off one foot and ran at absurd speed towards her target, red eyes never leaving his chest.

Edward's eyes widened at how fast she was coming. He clapped his hands together and extended his metal blade. No matter what she'd do to him, he wasn't going to attack her…

Iyami took a graceful fifty feet high jump into the air and brought her blade down on Edward. At the right time, he blocked her weapon with his. She landed her bare two feet against his metal arm and pushed off for a back flip. Just when Edward already started panting from such harsh impact, she charged at him again, feet faster than lightning.

"I'm not going to fight you, do you here me?!" Ed had dodged her blade just in time, but she kept throwing jabs at him so quick that it was hard to see her attacks coming.

A few times his blade missed blocking hers and she was able to cut numerous gashes along his face and chest.

Iyami brought her flexible foot upright and kicked Ed in the jaw. He was knocked off balance and let his guard down. She spun her straight out leg around like a ballerina and kicked him again to where it sent him tripping backwards.

When their blades clashed against each othe, Ed's fierce golden orbs gazed directly into the meaningless depths of her robotic ones.

He clenched his teeth and pressed his blade against Iyami's to hold her off longer. "Isiserah, if you're still in there, just listen to what I have to say! You're still Isis…I know you're not a weapon built to destroy, you even said so yourself; you feel human emotions and that one thing…is what makes you human! You're not a weapon…you're Isis…the one I first met back in the town of Dolorosa! JUST WAKE UP!"

Iyami threw him off with her blade. After the cuts Ed and gotten on his body, he finally did something to back her off. He clapped his hands and pressed his flesh one against her stomach. The electric blue light threw her back feet away.

Ed stood up wearily while daggling his metal arm to his side. His breathing hitched in heavy pants he tried to get over. But he had no time to rest. "…Don't make me do this…don't make me fight you…"

Iyami stood back up and summoned the red sparks of light into one palm. She quickly pressed it on the metal ground beneath her and let the red light roam freely.

Ed watched.

The metal ground beneath him quickly rose up in steel blocks and almost made no time to dodge. The rectangular walls would rise up beneath him and try to crush him against the ceiling. He continuously had to keep pace on jumping away from repeatedly rising metal beneath him. One came too close and only scraped the fabric of his ripped black jacket.

The ground under Iyami rose and carried her for a head-on spring at Ed. She jumped off the highness of the ledge, curling herself up in a spinning wheel as she transmuted her feet and arms into metal stabbing points. She landed only for a quick second to rocket towards Ed again.

Ed's disadvantage was the fact that she was attacking him from behind. He turned around to meet the glowing light blades of Iyami. He skillfully held his automail blade in front of him to block her blades again.

Iyami raised her foot, her toes in the shape of one metal spear, and raked her metal foot up his chin. That was enough to throw him off. She threw her head back and heaved up her upper body to bring up her knee and give him a stiff hit in the chin. It threw him upwards and soon dropped him several feet away from her.

Al could only watch helplessly as his brother got beat up. But this wasn't Ed. The Ed he knew would always have a good comeback and never let someone toss him like this.

Ed lifted himself up with a cry of pain. He sat up, dazed and choked out the lump in his throat. His arms trembled. He had been weakening himself because he was not fighting back. He didn't want to fight back. He didn't want to hurt her. He knew that somewhere deep down in that shell of hers, lied the true Isiserah…. The friend he found on that confusing day.

A smirk curved on his face as he wiped the blood running down his lip. "…I know it's still you…" he stood up firmly with his eyes shadowed.

Iyami closed her eyes and roughly clapped her hands together. She departed them and a red spark of an orb formed. It grew bigger and bigger, summing up the Philosopher's stone energy, until it was large and shocking the air waves.

Ed grinned and copied her, but formed a blue light instead. The energy grew just as large as hers.

As if on cue, both threw their orb of energy at one another. The two different colored energy bombs collided and shocked each other until they exploded.

Iyami sped off towards Ed again. He held his ground.

Once they both came in contact, their hands locked in a battle against strength. Ed gritted his teeth and held the same power against her. His one metal arm and flesh arm held against two metal arms stronger than him. His bicep muscles quivered and weighed on pressure as he tried to overthrow her. It was dangerous if she was this close. The artificial robot was too strong to do that.

Iyami's strength on him cracked the metal beneath his feet. She suddenly let go of his flesh hand and spun herself behind him, taking his metal arm with her. She pinned his metal arm down against his back and pinned his body to the floor on his stomach. She shaped her entire arm into a stabbing spear again. She held his metal arm down and slowly drew the spear down on his spine, red eyes never leaving him.

Ed couldn't get up at all. It was like having a heavy load of hardcore metal pressed down on your body and smothering you to no longer breathe. Just when he felt the freezing tip of the point touch his back it was withdrawn just as quick and so was the weight on his body.

Wind Seeker, who was supposedly hiding, had attacked Iyami head on with his fangs. He was now pinning her on her back and tossing her arm in his mouth. He left her arm and began chomping to get at her face.

She just slowly reached her fingers out to grip the white wolf's throat and squeezed it so roughly it made him yelp in a hoarse voice, and even squeeze out some blood from the mouth. She stood up and held the white wolf off the ground by its throat as it squirmed in her grasp. She threw Wind Seeker into a pile of broken glass.

Iyami looked down into the depths of Edward's golden eyes. She grabbed him by his braid and jerked him off the ground. She raised him so high up she had to almost tilt her head all the way up just to stare into his face. Ed just bared his teeth and weakly tried to strike at her with his blade.

Iyami's long flowing white hair suddenly came to life. The thin and almost invisible little strands wrapped around his neck and wrists. They squeezed his throat and wrists so violently that they creased blood lines into his skin. The thick blood dripped onto the floor.

Wires slowly slid from out of the connecting holes in her back and encircled Ed's body. Ed actually had a childlike fear in his eyes as he watched the snake-like tentacles. They slowly moved around to his back, arms and legs, the sharp pointed ones jabbed deep into his flesh as if it were trying to connect to him, not knowing he wasn't machine. He sharply hollered when she dropped him and dug the core of the wires into his skin.

Ed gripped the hair of his head and shouted as the electric red waves sparked and electrocuted his body from the inside. At the same time, blood was dripping and forming its puddle around his beat body. Iyami's Philosopher's stone was powering their status even more. Now he would know what she felt like when she was a robotic under creating status.

Al couldn't take it. He had to help his brother. He began running forward to stop the madness.

This time Wind Seeker interrupted again. He furiously grabbed hold of her gown and yanked her to him. The yank forced her to release Ed and short circuit her wires. They pulled out of his body swiftly which made him gag.

The male wolf sprang off his hind legs and up to lock hold of her shoulder. He was greeted by her arm spear. The stabbing weapon slashed open his stomach and threw him off. Blood spilled from his white belly and caused him to limp off balance and near the edge of the metallic floor where their led a sixty feet drop.

Iyami turned her attention to the wolf.

**/INTERFERENCE MUST BE DESTROYED/**

She walked near the gasping wolf and positioned her blade again.

Wind Seeker's tongue drooled as he lay in his own blood, panting, wheezing for air.

Iyami charged her spear into his back neck, leaving it with one last yelp. She pulled it out quickly and examined the blood. She tossed the yelping creature over the edge of the ledge.

Wind Seeker's body slowly tumbled over it. He whimpered hoarsely as he scratched his forepaws' claws into the steel floor while his lower body daggled off the edge.

"WIND SEEKER!" Al stopped running when he saw it was too late.

The once kind white wolf slipped off the edge and plunged out of sight into the steep darkness with his last whine.

Ed stood in shock of it after his recovery. The light in his eyes shuddered vaguely. He breathed hastily and gazed up at Iyami with sad and unforgivable eyes. "…How could you…?"

Al whimpered in his inner armor shell. Animal or human, he had heard and seen too many die in his lifetime. He clenched his fists and charged towards Iyami on a rampage. "YOU STUPID MACHINE!"

Al's steel fist lunged at her but she quickly jumped upwards and dodged him. She landed feet behind him on the tips of her toes. Her back was turned to him. She leaned her body backwards and took off like a rocket. Al turned around and gasped in fear. She landed on him, clapped her hands and summoned both metal spears.

Ed stood up alarmingly. " AL!"

Iyami repeatedly jabbed her spears into Al's steel armor, creating holes and brackets. She lifted herself off him and held him over her by her blade sticking through his armored soul.

"ISIS STOP THIS NOW!" Ed pleaded as he ran forward.

She glanced at him with dead eyes and threw Al into the air. She summoned the red energy light and into an electric bomb. She raised her hand of sparking energy up to face Al who was still flying into the atmosphere. She threw the electric wave skywards to meet Al. The armored soul and the energy shock wave collided and exploded.

Ed's eyes dilated. "_NO AL_!"

Al's headless armor came flying against the metal ground. His helmet clanked and throbbed next to it.

"_AAAAAALLLLLL_!" Ed ran to him, but Iyami stood guarded in front of it.

She held out both spear arms and stood on one foot with her other foot rested against the side of her knee like an elegant ballerina…with a killing program.

Ed stared at her in hatred. He shook his head violently. "…You've always been a goddamn weapon; not an innocence girl!" He charged head-on in rage with his metal blade ready to kill her. "WHY THE HELL SHOULD I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU!" his voice was crackling into angry sadness. "YOU CAN GO TO HELL FOR ALL I CARE!" he had to stop in his pace once he saw what she was doing.

Iyami's body of glowing light was outlined with fierce streams of red energy. She had her eyes closed and her hands spread out to her sides.

Ed gritted his teeth and clapped his hands together, braid and bangs bristling at the tense energy. He quickly pressed his hands so hard on the metal ground, he actually cracked it. His golden eyes now amber with sinister rage kept their eyes on Iyami. An enormous blue energy escaped his fingers with bolts of electricity encircling the ground around him. The energy spread and trailed towards her.

Iyami's hands danced in a short rhythm. She clapped her hands once and summoned the red light again. A red barrier around her struck at Ed's blue path of light and diminished it. The sparks in her fingers danced in a spinning pattern. She pressed it to the ground. Walls of red light rose from out of the ground around her. The walls spread across the whole room and hit against the metallic walls, causing a huge bump to rumble the room.

Ed's body shook with the floor under him.

Iyami's power suddenly tilted the floors off to the left of the room. The ground under Ed began to crush and split with red lights emerging from underneath. The entire floor began to split, crack and bunch together as it all came apart. The ceiling came down and collided with the red lighted walls, actually exploding.

The floor under Ed began to cave in around him, dragging him under. He jumped out of the way of the cave in and landed near Iyami unknowingly. He raised his eyes to see her in fear of the powerful red shock wave produced from the alchemy arrays tattooed in both hands to create powerful shockwaves. Ed was too late to block it with ease. The shockwave blasted through him and smashed his wounded body into the metal walls just next to the steep drop into another section of the lab. The red shockwave sparked and punctured a hole within the wall, and soon after, it caused a huge explosion as powerful as any nuclear bomb. The waves of the explosion sent harsh vibration waves over the entire laboratory and broke everything glass-material.

White boxes of light swept through Iyami's red eyes. She scanned the area for life.

** /FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST EDWARD ELRIC, ENEMY, TERMINATED/**


	10. The Apocalypse of Our World

Iyami stepped into the area in grave silence before she stopped in front of him. Her red eyes looked straight ahead and analyzed the obstacle that stood in front of her path. The ringing tone swept lightly through ears.

**/TERMINATION OF EDWARD ELRIC COMPLETED, MASTER/**

He turned his head. "And the others?"

**/TERMINATED/**

"Excellent." Pause. "Look at this place, Iyami. Does it bring instinct to your programming?"

She raised her red eyes and studied the large room.

**/AFFIRMATIVE/**

"This room is what stands to be the meaning of your true purpose. Your purpose will be summed up here." He grinned and turned around to face her. He held out his hand. "Come, Iyami."

The impassive creation slowly took steps forward.

* * *

He was sweaty, injured and outraged. The supporting arms trembled weakly. The boy turned on his back and faced the darkness above him. His chest heaved rapidly as he closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows with dirty blonde hair strands over his eyelashes.

_/Flashback/ _

_The shockwave blasted through him and smashed his wounded body into the metal walls just next to the steep drop into another section of the lab. The red shockwave sparked and punctured a hole within the wall… _

_Ed stared at it widely and pushed his body against the back rocks of the buried hole as the wave's energy bomb brightened. He squeezed his eyes shut and clapped his hands together. _

_…Soon after, it caused a huge explosion as powerful as any nuclear bomb. The waves of the explosion sent harsh vibration waves over the entire laboratory and broke everything glass-material. _

_He had transmuted his tight surrounding into aN outward concave barrier that protected him from the explosion only for a short second. After those seconds had passed it exploded the barrier only lightly and sent him falling head first downwards into the steep drop, unconscious. His back hit the surface of a thin steel bridge a few feet above the bottom of the drop. _

_/End of flashback/ _

Ed opened his eyes and hitched his sigh once he couldn't make out anything above him. Everything was black and still blurry. He lifted himself up and looked at the floor beneath his spread out legs, tears falling, mouth sobbing.

"She's not the girl you knew before, Brother…"

Ed flinched and looked to his left to see a singed headless armor lying a distance away and a helmet's white orbs staring at him between the fallen rocks.

"_AL_!" he crawled towards him, dragging his injured flesh leg that made a blood trail as he did. "Al you…you're alright." He picked up the helmet's head and gazed into it, tears slopping down his chin.

"…Yeah…I'm fine…" he replied lowly. "She didn't kill me. There's just one way to do that; the attachment blood seal."

"Yeah...I almost forgot." Ed shakily chuckled. He placed his helmet on his armor body.

Al adjusted and stared back at his brother. "...Brother, are _you_ alright?"

Ed had his head hung down and his teeth gritted. His bangs hid his eyes away. "I'm fine."

Al already knew. He really didn't need to ask. Hid orbs drifted off to a spot where sore and heartbreaking feelings clenched him. To say it was a sight for sore eyes was an understatement. "It looks like we're not the only ones who got exiled here."

Ed raised his head and dropped his anger to retreat to pity.

Al stood up and kneeled down beside the bloody body. He lightly took the red/white paw in his hand and sat next to it. He hauled the dead body up in his lap and put a steely cold hand on the blood blemished cheek. A pink tongue covered in fluids rolled out once Al tilted the head.

Ed sat next to Al and stared down on the dead body. "...She's a demon."

Well, this wasn't the time to say "I told ya' so." Al watched his brother in slight shock and pity as three tears dampened the ground beneath Ed.

"I've been so wrong," he blamed with a lot of rage forming under his words. "She doesn't even have a soul. You were right, Al. I should've listened to you…I should've killed her when I had the chance."

Al ran his fingers through the white wolf's fur and shook his head. "How could you have killed someone you loved?"

Ed lifted his head up half way but lowered it back down in shame. His voice trembled as he spoke. "What are you talking about, Al? She's cheap hardware." With his face staring at the ground this entire time, his nails clenched into his fists and pulled in some dirt. "Just look at what she did to Wind Seeker, what she tried to do to me and you. She could drop dead for all I care!"

"You don't mean that, Ed."

"_Of course I mean that_!"

"Then why would you always smile at her _like that_? Why would you always gaze at her _like that_? Why did you always worry about her?"

"No." he snapped coldly. "I don't give a damn about her, Al. I should have said, 'yes' when she asked me do I hate her. Damn right I hate her." His voice was cracking again. He began talking fast to by pass the ache. "I should've killed her dammit, she deserves to die!"

"But she did warn us, remember...?"

"..."

"She kept telling you before we left. She didn't want you to get hurt, she was always worried. She tried her best to warn us, Ed." Al sighed lightly. "She's still possibly Isiserah inside. You know that, brother."

Ed held his breath in a quiet gasp but then released it with a frown. "That whole warning us thing, sure, but her caring fucking isn't it. Robots can't feel, remember? 'Isiserah' never existed."

"She did at least think she could, I guess. She based her attention on believing she loved you." Al looked back down at the dead creature.

Ed was about to speak against it until Al interrupted quickly.

"You can't defeat her; she's too powerful in different areas besides alchemy. The only chance we might have in getting rid of Iyami is bringing Isiserah back to life..."

Ed closed his mouth and stayed in deep thought. The lights against his rich eyes danced in heartbreak. _' _

* * *

Sage pushed her in front of him and led her towards the mechanism. Their feet clanked on the thin metallic bridge leading off into the endless darkness where the encircled bridges led.

When they got to the second encircling bridge, Sage walked to the small control levers and unit. He quickly switched on the switches upwards and glanced at the air encircled by the steel bridges.

A small electric bolt shocked in between a metal trail encircling from around the head and the bottom, shaping an invisible sphere. An orb of bright light slowly formed as electricity sharpened their static.

Iyami watched emotionlessly while the light of fierce electricity shocked a path along hers. The orb grew large, as bright and as big as only half the sun's size. It spun slowly like a sphere full of power.

Sage grinned and turned to look at her. "This is your destiny. Once you step into that orb of light, and the Philosopher's stone's energy within you will power this spectrum slowly."

Sage insanely laughed to himself as the scene popped up in his disturbed mind. He looked at Iyami who was staring into the white orb of high voltage. "What are you waiting for, Iyami? Step into the light."

* * *

A large steel spiral object surfaced out of blue light and the ground, in front of the edge of the steep drop. Ed and Al who had been hanging onto the coiling sides jumped off and on the metal edge.

Al stepped in front of Ed. "Where do you think she and Sage would be?"

Ed looked at to the doors that now completely locked off the "Dark Site" he saw earlier. "There."

"Hm?"

"Sage said Iyami is the perfect weapon, right? If she's going to live up to it, he's going to have to use her to create something powerful. That area looked like a main control section for that type of capability." Ed's eyes darted upwards to meet Al. "And I've got a feeling it's going to be something big."

Al nodded dully and ran towards the metal doors with Ed. The steel doors had no handles, and there was no automated system made to open it. So they had to try the hold fashion way.

Ed clapped his hands and leaned them against the cold steel door. Blue bolts roamed.

All was silent for a minute.

A crack split in the metal.

Ed pushed his weight off the steel and backed away with gestures of Al to do the same. "Get back, Al!"

His little brother didn't protest against the command.

They backed far as more cracks split in between the steel. The doors suddenly exploded and the steel door fell on its back.

Al gasped and said cheerfully, "Oh that's right! There's more to alchemy than just creating things."

They ran through the black smoke and into the site. They ran past the red and blue wires daggling on the walls, the metal connectors, and the plugs with sharp points to connect into.

* * *

Iyami slowly took her steps on the steel plank. Her red eyes never left the white orb of blinding light as its reflection reflected in her eyes. The lightening bolts hit the ground very close to her feet. She didn't care. She didn't have a choice to.

Her lips parted in a small opening. Her arms daggled beside her as her feet took slow and cautious steps closer to her fate. Her empty red eyes let in no source of light but that of the white orb.

* * *

Ed's eyes stressed into squints, his fists clenched as they took turns extending in front of him, his blonde hair strands from his bangs flooded blurry vision before him. The sweat flew from his face and behind his and Al's path. He was tired, but he couldn't stop here. His mind repeatedly yelled he had to save Isiserah for the country's sake. His heart repeatedly yelled he had to save Isiserah for her sake.

Red cords and wires pasted them through their winds of running.

Ed's determined face proved he wanted to save that certain someone. "I'll get you back…I promise."

* * *

Her body stood in the dancing shadows of the orbit. The electricity hit her and trailed up her body for a short second. She didn't move. She slowly lifted a foot and stepped into the violent shockwaves.

* * *

They stopped in front of another handle-less steel entrance. Ed did want he did to the last door and ran through the fallen door, pinching his muscle spasm in his wounded leg. He yelped sharply but muffled it behind clenched teeth.

Al crouched over besides Ed's standing arched body. "Brother, maybe you should take it easy for a minute, just until the pain leaves."

Ed shut his eyes tight. "No, we can't afford to waste anymore time. We've got to…" he bowed his head down in pain. "We've got to save Isiserah!" he quickly paused at his sudden outbreak of words. He looked up at Al with scared eyes, as if it were a sin to want to save a machine.

Al nodded once.

Ed winced and took off on an injured flesh leg. The leather fabric was torn and his skin was barely seen under the sheets of blood.

* * *

Her body entered the light. All the free electricity focused on her. She closed her eyes as the bolts lifted her body into the orbit. Connectors and plugs suddenly forced holes into her arms, legs, and sides of the head before emerging into her back.

The red stone in her metallic heart glowed brightly. The red orb suddenly turned a murderess red. The voltage shocked the entire room and suddenly arrowed all their direction on her body. Her entire body shone a magnificent white light and stood her hair on end in flotation.

Sage laughed insanely. "Finally the living weapon is complete." He gazed into Iyami's expressionless face in the trance of her absorbing the Philosopher's stone energy within her.

* * *

Ed clapped his trembling hands and pressed them against the door. As before, the blue light caused it to self-destruct.

Sage cowered as dangerous metal flew. He looked behind him with alert eyes. He clenched his teeth and spun around to face them. "How the hell did you bastards you survive?! I thought Iyami killed you!"

Ed's golden eyes sped right past the crazed man and ran up to Iyami. His breath dropped as so did his heart. His orbs trembled. "Isiserah!"

Iyami's body was blurring out at times, like she was playing on an old screen that would mess up continuously. Her red eyes slowly came open to see the one she had supposedly destroyed. _"Ed…ward…"_ her voice faded in and out in the middle of speaking the name.

Ed stared into her face he could barely make out behind all the light. He furrowed his eyebrows against his eyelids in anger. He looked to Sage with fury in his orbs. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HER NOW?!"

Sage laughed with wide eyes. He turned around to face Iyami's diminishing body. "I'm using the Philosopher's stone to create the most devastating explosion this country has ever seen."

The red electricity attacked the ceiling and walls, and brought down hard steel chunks of rock to the floor. The bolts went out of control and shocked everything in contact and out of range.

Ed shielded his arm over his face from one red bolt. He glared at Sage angrily. "That explosion is going to kill everything on this planet, including you!"

Sage chuckled again. "I don't give a damn, as long as this world suffers, that's all that matters."

"Why do you hate your own kind so much?! What has it done to you and Libony to make you despise every living thing here!"

Iyami's red eyes stayed open, but only stared at the form of Ed.

"It's a natural cause, Fullmetal. This is what we humans live for; to destroy each other. It always has been that way since the dawn of time. All humans are evil; all have darkness inside of their hearts. Humans are their own enemy, and were born to be!"

Iyami shut her eyes as white hair flew against her face. She fell under the trance of her weakening system. In a few more minutes her body would be destroyed as the red light within her grew.

Al lowered his head in utter sadness. "Th-That's not true..."

Flashbacks of a picture of his mother, father, one year old Edward and him as a human baby came into memory. They all flashed quickly, first the pictures of his family, the pictures of his father's shadowing in front of the doorway, his mother's grave, Nina Tucker and Alexander, and The Chimera's blood splattered on the wall of the alley. The next chained memories were of the Homunculus and Shou Tucker.

Al looked at his steel feet. "Not all people deserve to die, or kill each other."

"What do you know, you poor trapped soul? You know nothing of life and how people are. They are full of hate and darkness, only little sparks of purity exist. Humanity is bound to wipe out itself."

"SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!" Ed growled in fury and charged head on. "You've got somethin' ta' say, you say it to ME!" He clapped his hands together as he sped towards Sage and his exposed robotic arm.

Ed summoned his blade out of blue light and positioned it to aim for his enemy.

Sage grinned evilly and extended the two long robotic necks connected to his robotic arm. The two mechanical weapons charged Ed at incredible speed.

He swung his mighty metal spear and cut off the two metallic necks.

Fried necks of metal fell squirming to the floor.

Sage furrowed his black eyebrows into a frown. He robotically changed his arm into a longer spear than Ed's.

Both clashed in a wave of ear-piercing vibration.

Ed flew back, landed on his one hand, and took off into the midair to charge Sage again. He struck down his blade at the menace, but his target quickly jumped out of the way, using the support of his robotic arm. Sage tried to rush him, but Ed maneuvered a dodge and landed one foot on Sage's metal arm to support his high jump. Ed spun his left automail foot around to directly kick Sage in the mouth. The man caught Ed's automail in the grasp of his metallic palm. Ed twisted his body and flipped Sage over roughly.

The man hit the floor, breaking the lenses of his glasses. Blood dripped from his mouth. He rolled out of the way just in time to miss Ed's metal blade bore into the steel ground.

Ed glanced at Al quickly. " AL! FIND A WAY TO SHUT DOWN THAT GENERATOR!"

Al nodded with a shaky voice, "R-Right!" he ran over to the generator just before red electricity shocked his path. He raised his fingers above the buttons and switches in hesitation. "This one is even more complex than the last one."

Sage changed his weapon into a laser cannon. The blue light charged up within the metallic hole and shot at Ed fiercely.

He jumped out of the way just for the blue blast to hit the fabric of his clothes. Ed tried striking Sage once more.

He charged at Ed and tried crushing him with his harsh weapon.

But the shorter skilled fighter used an offense for a defense. He thrashed out his metal bladed arm and speedily cut through the robotic metal.

Wires, cords, metal and electricity fell to the floor along with half a fried wired metallic arm. Sage had to take his red eyes off his opponent to see the damage done to his metal arm. He was about to pay for many mistakes than just this.

Ed swung his blade and forced it through the flesh of the right side in Sage's chest. The man screamed in agony as the stabbing weapon pierced through his back, causing a bloody gushing. Ed slowly slid out the cold metal, slowly drawing out dripping blood blotches.

The blood stained through Sage's black shirt was in more of a blackish fluid. His red wide eyes dilated before he fell to the floor holding his chest wound. A deep red puddle formed under him. "…Curse you child…" he whispered hoarsely. "You think you've defeated me….?"

Ed gritted his teeth with wild hatred and murder in the depths of his golden eyes. "You disgusting bastard, I should kill you for what you did to HER!"

Blood lines rolled out of Sage's lips as he showed off his blood stained teeth in a gritted grin. "That _thing_!" he laughed chokingly. "It's nothing more than a machine, boy! It has no feelings, no heart, and no soul; if it were to die…then that is it."

Ed wrinkled his nose in a sickened glare. He looked like he just wanted to murder, to kill this mad man and make him suffer. "You are in no position to be saying any crap about anyone dying, so I suggest you just shut the hell up!" his fist was shaking to his side.

Sage's eyes suddenly went wide as he saw the look in his youthful eyes. "Oh no, you can't be serious, Fullmetal."

Ed's eyes strained wide with stress bags under them, and his mouth dropped into a small line. "What are you blabbering about now?"

Sage chuckled, choking on fluids again. "You should know better, Fullmetal! Falling in love with a machine! That's a sin against all emotions! You've disgraced the meaning of what a moral love is!" Sage pointed a bent finger to the red orb of light consuming Iyami. "Once her power, the Philosopher's stone, is absorbed into this orbit of a bomb, her programming will be destroyed and the power generated will get ready to explode. I think you can imagine what will happen after that."

Ed's eyes grew wider than gold saucers. He spun around his attention to Iyami. He stared directly into her solemn face hidden behind the bright light her body gave off.

The red light and plugs around her were indeed absorbing her into a highly destructive bomb. The red electricity was roaming the entire room and destroying steel bridges, floors, ceiling, and everything else. Almost everything was set on fire as if a volcano had erupted and overthrew a small village. Iyami was in the middle of all of it.

The generator Al had been working on was quickly set on explosion when a red bolt hit it forcefully. "OH NO! Now there's no way to stop it!"

Ed's mind was only set on Iyami. His eyes in his sockets trembled in anguish.

The flashes of her face came before his vision: she was smiling, her violet eyes were gleaming, lost in emotion, and her face was the decent purity she had always carried within her heart.

He couldn't take it anymore. He ran forward on the thin plank bridge towards her fading out body.

"You fool!" Sage grinned in insanity. "If you go anywhere near that spectrum, there is a chance your body will be destroyed due to high voltage!"

Ed didn't care. He kept running towards her and the encircling second plank.

Red light sent waves of destruction against the path of the plank bridge, and almost threw Ed off his balance.

He held his wrist against his forehead to shield his eyes of the intense light the Philosopher's stone energy was giving off. He mustered his loud voice to yell her name. "ISISERAH!"

Her red eyes slightly opened to see him. Her body faded out off and on. _"…Ed…ward…"_ she managed dimly.

He walked slower and slower, making sure not to lose complete balance. The intense vibration waves clouded his vision. He could only barely see her with one eye widely opened and the other half way closed and too tiresome for sight. But all his mind could focus on was her.

Her closed eyes and expressionless face under the red electricity fixed his determination on her safety.

Walking any closer to this intense orb of active red light was hard for Ed, for those waves it was sending could knock him off that metal plank anytime. "ISE! You have to wake up, you have to jog your memory! You're not a heartless machine made to do what others say and kill every defenseless thing in sight. You have your own heart to guide you. You're Isiserah! Think back to when you were capable of feeling those human emotions!" Ed shut his eyes tightly as the voltage hit him quickly. "IF YOU DON'T WAKE YOURSELF UP IYAMI WILL BEAT THAT OUT OF YOU!"

Iyami's lifeless red eyes just gazed at him, no emotion. She was proving him wrong.

Ed arched his body and held his stomach with one hand. His strength was weakening. He was using all he had to reach her. "I know it's…it's still you! I know you still have a memory of me!" Ed slowly walked closer, electricity shocking under his feet. "C'mon Ise, search the back of your mind! It's me, Ed!"

She said nothing. Her blank and soulless stare said nothing.

Ed came at hair's length in front of the orbit of red energy. He furrowed his yellow eyebrows and ran into it. The electricity voltage attracted to his body and shocked him to death. He hollered through excruciating anguish. Nevertheless he kept on walking towards her, one wearisome eye open.

Just when he came almost into contact with her a sharper pain jolted him back. It swept through his body, giving him no time to scream. His mouth fell open, his eyes dilated with blank light and his body blurred out in shudders like a seizure. The energy flowing through him had paralyzed him and could destroy his body at anytime. His dead staring eyes stared directly into Iyami's red ones as the voltage quivered his fading out body.

Iyami stared back, eyes fully opened. His words on that one grand day repeated in her mind:

_"…Love…? What's that?"_

_"Shut up, Al!—Anyway, it's…it's a, uh, you know, feeling inside, an emotion, the thing you have towards someone that you really care about."_

_"Really? What does it feel like?"_

_ "Well, every time you see them, your stomach ties in a knot, and you feel…strong inside, because they're always there to believe in you…" _

he red pupil within one of her eyes dilated off and on and slowly turned back to its pure violet color. The other, stayed the color of robotic red.

_"…Ed...ward…"_ she sadly reached out her hands for him and brought his fading body close to hers.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried the side of her head in his chest. So warm. Her violet eyes stayed open half way as she held his fading body tighter. _"I still…remember…."_ Oil flooded under both her violet and red eye and rolled down her cheeks like black tears.

She slowly reached her hands up to the sides of his head. More oil ran down her face as her eyes were slightly fluttering to close. The electricity zoomed away from his body, and the effect of her mechanical touch made his body glow like hers. Ed's empty golden eyes flattened slightly. The pain within him became numb. He was still under the effect of the high energy roaming through him, but there was a lesser chance he would be destroyed. He wrapped his arms around her plugged body and embraced her closer to him. His lifeless eyes stared out into space as half his face was hidden behind her shoulder. He closed them, hair detail flying everywhere.

_'Ise…'_ Ed's mind spoke loudly to her as he held her tighter.

She only stared off into space behind his broad shoulder as well. Her voice began fading and leaving in complete sentences. _"I am sorry. Edward._ _Never. Wanted to. Forgive. Me."_

Ed took her by the shoulders and looked deeply into her violet and red eye.

She reached for his metal hand and pulled it down to the middle of her chest, where her metallic heart was. _"I...am...Iyami. Have...no...soul. Am. Robot. Am. Not. Human. No matter what. Am. Not. Human. Am. Robot. But. I do not want...to...kill people.__ You must. Destroy me. Ed...ward. Program. Cannot. Be. Altered."_ At every word she was speaking, in between, her body was blurring in and out as if she was a hologram. _"Must. Destroy. Iyami."_

Ed's eyes grew wider. His mind was the only the thing able to speak his words to her. _'I'm not going to kill you…_' he caressed her head with his flesh hand and pressed her face into his neck. _  
_

She gently pushed him back as the plugs plunged into her body was near absorbing all of the Philosopher's stone's energy within her. _"You. Must. Save. Them.__ Feelings. Unreal. Impossible to. Feel. Must. Be. Destroyed. Must. Save. Humanity."_ She forced the point of his metallic blade to her metal heart_. "Must. Destroy. Project. Iyami."_

Ed's eyes gazed back into hers longer before he said anything. He flattened them in sorrow and slowly pressed his fading hand to her cheek. He wiped away the oil from her eye. His lips hovered near hers to where their noses brushed sides. He closed his empty eyes and parted his lips.

More oil fell down her face.

Ed gently pressed his tender lips against her cold ones. A first kiss. He pulled her closer into him, lifting his blade as he kissed her. Tears rushed down his face as he closed his eyes tightly and quickly stabbed his blade through her metallic heart.

Her violet eyes widened and suddenly went blank as red electricity roamed her body. Oil poured down her wrists and heart from the metal wound. The blade went through her back, red electricity shocking against the sharp point. Her system slowly shutting down and dying.

Ed's bangs covered his closed eyes as he tore her out of the wires and plugs.

The red orb's red electricity shocked the air violently. The metal planks around it exploded into bits.

Al covered himself from the flying metal objects. "BROTHER!"

The out of control bolts hit against the walls and ceiling and clasped everything. The floor split and cracked into chunks of metal. The place was in flames and heat relating to lava splattered on the bridge planks.

Sage, who was losing blood quickly, crawled slowly over to the generator's panel. He chuckled insanely and choked on his blood. He slammed his bloody hand on the warning-button with the last bit of life he had.

The red blinker on the side blinked the room red off and on.

/**WARNING/**

**/WARNING/**

**WARNING/**

**LABORATORY SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIVE MINUTES/**

Al shifted his orbs to the warning label. "Oh no…BROTHER!" he ran down the metal plank in search of Ed. "BROTHER WHERE ARE YOU?!"

The metal plank bridge was burned off and there was no way of getting across to the area Ed and Iyami were last seen.

Al gasped frightfully. "ED!"

He saw the metal particles in the cloud of smoke and fire falling from their place where the orb was. "…No…he can't be…"


	11. The Golden Wolf Eyes of Endurance

The laboratory site had turned into a lava zone, where sparking and heat-radiating liquid spilled over metallic panels and devoured it whole. The intense scorch of the bright burn turned the air into hot vibration waves that killed off all oxygen.

The tall walls of flickering inferno kept Alphonse from reaching his brother. "BROTHER WHERE ARE YOU!?" he cried in a trembling fright.

Explosions from the encircled orb that Ed and Isiserah/Iyami had been in persuaded Alphonse to shield his face from flying particles.

* * *

Heat…burning heat and dizziness filled my head and flickered at my skin. I slowly opened up my eyes in pain...Ugh, dizzy as hell. But I got used to the vision before me and suddenly jerked my body in urgency. I had blacked out on the metal plank on the other side of the place where that huge orb exploded on us!

All I could see now was this entire place on a boiling RAMPAGE. My mouth slung open as I looked around frantically for Isiserah or Al. That's when I heard my little brother's pleading voice call for me. I spun my head around, not really expecting what to see, which was of course that exploding orb pedestal and molten rock steaming around me with flames everywhere. Damn it, I could see all this, but I couldn't see _Al._

" AL!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "ALLLL!"

There was a long pause that made me even more frantic.

"ED!" I heard a relived cry from my only brother and family.

I smiled slightly in that same relief.

"ED! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? WHERE ARE YOU!? I CAN'T SEE YOU, BROTHER!"

I flinched in a certain thought that hit me good and _hard._ I turned around to in view of that steaming magma. I looked back to the barrier of orange fire keeping me from the other side where Al was. "Al! Just stay put, okay? I'll be right back!"

Without me knowing if he heard me or not, I ran into the direction of burning death. I tried my best to keep my eyes open and alive. The heat was so blinding, and I had to squint several times just to feel my eyes burn.

Despite all this, I hoarsely called a name, "ISISERAH!"

The inferno and magma melting away the metal plank weren't necessarily in front of my path to block my way, but it was racing forward to block me. I held my wrist to my forehead to shade my eyes from the raging heat particles and waves. I cracked one eye open to feel the blustering scorch-winds strip across my skin hastily. Damn it, it felt like I was _already _burning in hell.

I looked down; a baaad idea. There beneath my feet where there used to be nothing but darkness, was an ocean of magma hotly misted as if this lab was now transformed into a huge volcano. The failure reaction to the orb of the explosion turned this place into nothing but heat. My feet suddenly became light and I nearly fell off the thin metal plank.

I strained to see what was ahead of me to keep my mind off of falling. That's when my world stopped.

There she was…still tied up in blue and red wires squeezing around her wrists and waist. Some cords and plugs were still plunged into her spinal cord. She was badly bruised and red electric jolts from the damage were still shocking around her. Her eyes were closed, her whole body, everything except her face, was all metallic. The flesh had been burned off.

The sight horrified me…it was total proof…she was all metal inside, nothing else. I could feel a sweat stream dance down my jaw. I slowly glanced at my automail arm in brief understanding.

Just because someone has metal limbs…didn't mean they were inhuman through the heart and soul. Right...?

I stared back up at Isiserah with determination burning in my eyes. I kicked up off the ground and dashed into the living heat and near the pedestal of the orb. I then set my hands carelessly against the metal engulfing planks used to hold the sphere of light in place. The metal was so hot my flesh fingers steamed and I had to yank my palm away immediately.

I growled and looked up to Isiserah's shut down body. The hole I…I had stabbed within her heart was still bored deep and pitch black. I felt so bad…so pained to see such a sweet girl this way. It was a sin to see her in pain this way…and this time, I literally caused it.

I couldn't take it anymore. I fiercely clasped my hands together with tightly shut eyes and summoned my metal blade from the blue rows of light.

The sound of something unhooking caught my attention. I flinched and looked upwards with a snaky, intimidated breath.

The wires and cords connected and strapping her were slowly stripping off. With each cord that let her free, her body was shifting sideways for a drop.

I gasped inwardly and did nothing but scream her nickname, "ISE!"

Finally the wires disconnected and left her to fall lazily down on me.

My mouth dropped open as I slowly held out my hands to catch her. She fell into my arms and brought me down to fall with her. I lifted us both up in agony of my flesh leg being pinched in torture. I winced slightly, but nevertheless I kept my squinted eyes open to look at her lifeless face.

…All of the pain from my leg….quickly began to build up in my chest. Honestly, my heart was hurting more than my muscles. My flesh fingers steadily made their way to feel the fried cords and cold metal against her dented immortal heart. Feeling that empty space, that black hole of nothing but metal, made tears under my eyes.

I embraced Isiserah into me. I could feel her cold metal side against my skin. I clutched a fistful of hair and held her tight, trying my best not to shout in infuriation.

We don't cry…men aren't supposed to show their weakness, but what choice do I have? I didn't feel anywhere near being a "man" or the "human weapon." I felt like a child. I was afraid…afraid she was going to slip away anytime soon. I don't care what she is! She's still Isiserah…I just want Isiserah back…it was the very same feeling I experienced when I lost Mom.

I buried my face into her flesh shoulder and finally let my tears race down my cheeks and wet my eyelashes, teeth clenched. I ignored everything going on around us. The ceiling was falling down on us little by little.

I had suddenly flung my tear stained face away from her shoulder. The crackling steel ceiling brought me back to reality. Right when I looked up, it crashed down on the spot in front of me, causing the plank to break. Isis and I were pulled down with that damn broken plank. I widened my eyes as I tried to reach out on the supporting plank, but the broken half we were on had already slid into the pool of lava below us. Before I could scream my lungs out, the wires connected to the broken plank was what kept us from plunging to our death. I grabbed onto the top of the broken metal so we wouldn't fall off the swaying lath. In my other arm, was Isiserah clutched around the waist. I shut my eyes tightly to block the heat waves from the pool of magma beneath us.

I could feel the tiredness marking my blood stained face, and the weakness of my vision coming in full impact. Even though it was hot, I was shivering in panic. My muscles were weak and I was in too much fear to help either of us up.

I slowly felt Isiserah's body slipping out of my automail arm. I flung my eyes wide open as she was almost out of my hold completely.

"ISE!" I grabbed her ankle to keep her from falling into the boiling magma. She was too heavy and too slippery to pull up.

I looked up between my musty blonde bangs to see those threads of the wires and plugs connected to the supported steel board were on its way of tearing like rope. I knew what the fate was now….

I was jerked back down at the weight of Isiserah's ankle slipping out of my fingers.

More of the ceiling began to collapse onto the magma below us. But since the magma wasn't so deep, the falling steel was slowly burying the magma beneath it.

**/15 SECONDS LEFT AND COUNTING/**

**/SELF-DESTRUCTION OF LABORATORY IN….**

**/14…. /**

**/13…. /**

**/12…. /**

**/11…. /**

**/10…. /**

**/9…. /**

The self-destruction warning label was doing a total countdown on when this place was going to be blown up!

"D-Damn it! You've got to be KIDDING me!" More nervous sweat poured down my face and soaked my vision wearily. I struggled to hold on to Isiserah. " ISIS! COME ON! WAKE UP!"

**/8…. /**

**/7…. /**

A lavender and red eye turned up to me as her body swayed from side to side by burning winds. _"…Let...Go...Must...Be...Destroyed...Want...To...D ie…" _Red sparks traveled from her wounded heart and up my automail arm.

I hollered in agony as my nerves were paralyzed and my fake arm fell limp.

That's when it happened….in a blink of an eye she immediately slipped out of my grip and down with the falling steel particles.

**/6…. /**

**/5…. /**

I was paralyzed in what just happened in less than a second, not able to grab her with a useless arm. "ISISERAH!"

She plunged out of sight and left me alone clutching a dangling steel plank. My helpless dilated eyes watched her fall to her death. The light within my orb shrank down into the darkness within my pupil. I suddenly felt the broken steel cut through my flesh fingers. My trembling arm slipped off the steel in a slippery squeak and finally left go of that dangling piece of crap...and I fell to my death right after her…

/**4…. /**

**/3…. /**

* * *

Alphonse looked down to see Ed falling into the dark depths along with Iyami and the collapsing ceiling. "_BROTHER_!"

**/2…. /**

He looked to the ceiling to see everything falling above him.

**/1…. /**

**/LABORATORY SELF-DESTRUCT/**

The entire building was demolished as every little piece of it collapsed into ash and dust. It hit the earth like tons of brick, but instead steel, falling to its point of nonexistence.

* * *

A few ebony wolves gathered round to examine the land dispersing to its doom where the laboratory was once held. A larger black wolf inhaled the scent of cinders air and whimpered in loss of another mixture of scents: Wind Seeker and Moon Dancer.

The Mountain pack wolves nervously galloped down the hillside and sprinted through the resides of collapsing land. Their muscles rippled under their wavering coats as they dashed at full speed to find their survivors.

* * *

….Ow, GEEZ, my head hurt like hell. I shuddered like a sudden chill had overcome me, before shaking off my wooziness and peeled one eyelid open. I shot them both open once I realized what had happened. "Wh…Where am I?"

I was under rubbles of steel rock and ash, grime covering my cheeks nastily.

I tried to sit up, but my legs were caught up under molten metal and pinned me there. I could only use one flesh arm to lift my upper body up. My auto mail had been paralyzed thanks to Isiserah….no, that was wrong. I shouldn't say something so cynical in that way….

I looked across from me while the stress and sadness in my heart filled my eyes, " ISIS!"

There she was…just..lying on her stomach against the rock hard floor. Her left arm had been ripped off, her right leg was detached from her port and was dangled by a few thin wires. The only thing fleshy on her body was her face.

Isiserah looked up at me with red sparks flying. Her violet eye dilated on me. _"…Ed…ward."_ She slowly crawled near me in handicap. Oil seeped from her pierced heart and left a trail of it as she dragged her mangled body.

I tried reaching for her, but forgot I was trapped and just cursed instead. I glared at it and carefully slipped myself from under them by only being able to raise it one centimeter off with my flesh arm. Surprisingly my automail leg wasn't damaged.

_"…E…d….Ed…ward…ward…"_ her voice was toning lower and lower.

I limply walked near her with a dragging automail arm. I could only see her correctly with one eye since my other one had been too blurry of a vision to see anything. I suddenly lost balance in my automail leg and collapsed to the ground in front of her, trembling. I looked up as my weak body quivered and sounds of shuddering, fearful breaths left my mouth. Isiserah was staring directly into my eyes, her one robotic red eye dilating off and on.

"I-Ise…" I stood up and reached my hand out to her. I quickly grabbed her and pulled her into me. I buried my face into her flesh shoulder and gazed at the detached leg of hers. The watery emotion in my eyes shuddered in hurt. " Isis, are you still with me?" she had been silent for a long time.

_"Yes. Always. Wanted. To. Be." _

I smiled sadly. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here as soon as—"

_"No. Ed…ward. Am. Dying."_ She said painfully in a cold robotic tone that never changed. Her head twitched against my shoulder to prove a malfunction.

I held her back and stared into her eyes with a fake hope and smile. "Don't be silly, you're not going anywhere. We'll get you fixed and everything will be brand new…"

_"No. Never. Will. Be. Same." _Her voice was getting low again...

My eyes widened in realization. How long have I been drifting in the fantasy and out of reality? She was right, one-hundred percent. Nothing was going to be the same again…but still.

She fell into my arms with her body slightly being stunned by a few embers. _"Who. Is. Isiserah? Never. Existed. Iyami. Is. Iyami." _

I shook my head lightly and tried to look down into her facial features...what was left of them, anyway. "Isiserah is that homeless girl I first met, not a weapon." I was dropping out of reality again.

_"Robot. Have. No. Soul."_ I could feel hot oil against my skin as it seeped from underneath her eye. _"Am. Dying."_ She explained lowly. She raised her face and gazed into my eyes deeply. _"Iyami. Love. Ed…ward. Iyami. Want. Ed…ward. Happy. See...'ward...smile." _

I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the utter remembrance of my childhood. The image of my hand clutching Mom's flashed in my mind. I wrapped my one arm around Isiserah's back and pulled her into me again, but tighter this time. I was so scared, so scared I'd lose her. I was trembling like a small little helpless child. That sudden visual of Mom's hand falling lifelessly into the mattress struck me HARD. Tears rushed down my face as my body shook from the memory. I was…so afraid…the cold fear ran up my spine.

A puddle of oil dribbled from out of her body from the wounded metallic heart. I felt her eyelashes brush my shoulder as they blinked. She spoke muffled against my shoulder. She put her flesh hand on my back, making me gasp lightly in mid-tremble. _"Ed…ward. Don't. Be. Scared..."_

"Ise!" I yelled hopelessly as I could feel her slipping away. I released her and roughly clutched her shoulder to see what was happening.

Her violet eye was slowly darkening. _"…Iyami. Loved. Ed._ _Be…Happy…."_ Her eye darkened completely black as I just watched in disbelief.

This can't be happening….

_"Am. Sorry. Ed…ward."_ Her red eye blacked out as she slowly began to shut her eyelid. The coldness of her body became colder. Her empty shell fell into my arm lifelessly.

I stared down on her…this couldn't be. There's just no way she's dead! My mouth was hung open as a single tear rolled from my extremely fearful and wide eyes.

All was silent…

"Ise…" I said under agony. "Ise!" I shook her with my breath hitching and slightly choking me. "No, GOD DAMN IT! ISISERAH! ARGH!"

* * *

The empty shell of Isiserah/Iyami lied wrapped up in Edward's arm. Plugs, wires and cords loosely stayed attached to her spinal cord as oil stained her body and the floor beneath her. Her head was tilted back with Ed's face buried into her flesh shoulder. Her long white angelic hair trailed paths in the black greasepond.

A few rocks shifted in the distance. They then shuffled and rambled fiercely. Alphonse struggled from beneath the steel and lifted it off his armored body. Oil, dents and dirt tainted his metal torso. He heaved the obstacle off his body in a heavy grunt and soon peered in front of him. "...B-brother? BROTHER!"

There was his brother hugging Isiserah/Iyami with one working arm. From the looks of it, she was dead, cancelled and annulled.

"BROTHER!" Al yelled louder, removing demolished pieces from his path to reach his brother

Ed raised his red, puffy eyes from Isiserah/Iyami's mangled body and stared at Alphonse.

The armored brother flinched in hurt from the stare Edward sent him.

Tears that ran down his face marked a clear trail through the flith painted to his cheeks. His golden eyes had lost the never ending fiery determination of solemn passion, and were replaced with lifeless anguish and emptiness, like there was nothing to be ambitious for any longer.

"...Ed?" Alphonse recited quietly.

Ed gritted his teeth and turned back to the dead metallic body. "Sh-She's gone, Al…we l-lost her."

Al gasped silently. "You mean she's…?"

Ed nodded achingly, lips parting as strands of gold locks shielded the profile of his face.

"Brother…" Al walked over to him with lowered orbs. "I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for what? This is what you wanted, right!? Well you sure as hell got it, Al! She's dead! Happy? She's dead, dammit!" Ed snapped with a crackling voice. "She's dead…"

"What I meant was that I'm sorry for you…"

Ed simply grunted.

"…I know you cared, Ed. But she did what was best for all of us. She wouldn't be happy if she had to live an immortal life for all time. She wouldn't be happy knowing she was created to serve destruction and nothing but destruction. She wouldn't be happy to know she has no purpose to be here. When she first came to us, she was already deluded, because she didn't know."

Ed stared down at her body in understanding. What Al said was true, as always. When it came to Isis he never knew what to think so he'd make things fairytales, excuses, anything to imagine that she is human…not a weapon to be. She had emotions, but they were artificial, not organic. The real emotion lies only in human souls, yet robots have no soul…just a complex mind that will sometimes tell them anything desired upon, if given the chance to think on its self.

They both snapped out of the discussion and turned around to see a lone black wolf in the rubbish digging through the debris. It stopped to stare at Ed and Al. It bent its ears back and sharpened the yellow, deadly look in its broadened eyes. It gazed into Ed's eyes fiercely.

Edward furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and slight fear of how intense and perhaps angry this animal was staring at him, huskily breathing.

The black animal could see its own kind in Ed's wolf eyes, but noticed the sadness and pain in them, and lifted its lips to show a glimpse of its fangs. Ed did not deserve the golden eyes of a wild warrior if he were to mope in weakness. Such disgrace…such dishonor for stealing a wolf's yellow eyes and use them to end the fire they once held.

The midnight-colored wolf took in Ed's air and twisted its ears. Wind Seeker. It whimpered a single note and continued digging through the metal. It stopped at a point and poked a cold nose against a white blood-stained paw. It dug more frantically and stopped to give a gentle howl.

More wolves scampered towards the scene and halted at the sight. They licked the snout of Wind Seeker's bloodied fur as his eyes were pierced down on his cheeks to never open again.

One smaller gray wolf stalked Ed's ground and appeared beside him a few feet away.

Ed blinked at it as it lowered its tail and probbed at Isiserah/Iyami's hair. It snipped at her mane and wires plunged into her back. It whimpered and sang a chorus with the others of grieve for poor Wind Seeker, Moon Dancer, and even for Isiserah/Iyami.

After the melody they fled the land, the black beauty giving Ed one last strong glance signaling to hold their fierce stature if he wanted to stand with pride again.

Ed stared down at the lifeless robot in drooped eyes. That's when his irises widened once his sights stayed on the metallic hole in her heart. "Al…"

"What is it?"

"…The Philosopher's stone…" Ed's dilated golden orbs stared up at him. "…It's gone…"


End file.
